


The Shadows of A Heart

by Amalspach, CrystalHeartZyx



Series: The Shadows [1]
Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Follows Main Story, I suck at writing romance, It develops as it goes, So many OCs, This needs so much editing, Torturing my characters is fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-05-13 11:14:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 34
Words: 139,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19250071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amalspach/pseuds/Amalspach, https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrystalHeartZyx/pseuds/CrystalHeartZyx
Summary: Zytaveon is a son of Hades who's lived without Camp Half-Blood, knowing his heritage but choosing a (somewhat) normal life instead. But no demigod can avoid their fate forever, not him, or his friends. Veon is told he's to play an important role in future events, but also that he'll go through strenuous trials of his own darkness to prevail. Follows storyline of Heroes of Olympus





	1. Spanish, Choir, Lunch with Monsters

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own any of these books, and only hope to make an entertaining story for readers and fans of this series. Please enjoy my first FanFic and review with tips if you feel I need to work on something or just have suggestions for future storyline.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is currently being transferred from Fanfiction.net and I should have it all transferred (along with the rest of the series that's currently been made) up by the end of the day, but if you're impatient, the first three and most of the fourth stories are already posted on Fanfic
> 
> All of the Author's Notes are from Fanfic and my original drafts of the story, so if there are things like "It's been forever" or "I don't know where I'm going with this" that's why. I'm just inserting the AN's in case of important info and hey you can keep track of my life in the past :)

There is one thing in the world Zytaveon hates more than anything. Mornings. Especially Monday mornings. His alarm went off, blaring at max volume because any lower and he'd bury his face under the covers and ignore it. He'd hit the snooze alarm six times already, having done what most teens do and set the alarm at the  _least_  an hour before they actually needed to get up. The sun coming in through the windows blinded him. He'd always preferred the dark, and was always annoyed when his mom would pull open the blinds and let the sun attack him when he forgot to put them back.

He dragged himself out of bed before he lost the will to live and turned off the alarm before wrapping himself in a blanket and going downstairs. He turned on the TV and then made himself a bowl of cereal. His normal morning routine. He sat there on the couch for an hour, praying that if he stared at the clock and watched the seconds tick by, time would slow down. When it came time for him to get up again, he dragged himself back upstairs to change clothes and then go to brush his teeth and such. It had taken ages suffering through driving school, but he'd finally gotten his license, so he drove to school and headed to class.

The day started as normal and boring as it could for a Junior in high school. He nearly fell asleep again in Spanish class, and as they watched a movie in Science it was pretty much the same. By his third hour, choir (which he wasn't embarrassed to say he actually liked) he was at least sum what awake.

"Emily, do you know if we have to complete that packet for science?" He asked his friend.

"Uh…I don't think so. We're going to work on it in class tomorrow."

"Great. If we work on that all day, we won't have to learn anything else. My brain already hurts too much for this." His friend laughed. Emily was too nice for her own good. Zytaveon was a guy who, despite his peer group, didn't cuss unless he had to, and even then it felt like a sin to let something like that escape his lips, and had a 4.0, and was dedicated to keeping it, but Emily made him seem like a bad influence in comparison. She was nice in a good way, considering all the people in their age group were cussing like there was no tomorrow making inappropriate comments just cuz.

"Okay, so today we're on page 52…" She muttered, opening her sight reading book. She was technically an alto, while Veon was a tenor, so of course with them being opposite genders they wouldn't have the same part, but he looked to her marking down the notes on her parts as well.

"Hey guys," Audrey said, walking in. She was an alto as well, and sat next to Emily coincidentally, and she ended up being a good friend to him too. She would seem like a shy girl at first glance, and definitely had the low voice of an alto, but she sung really well, rounding the notes of a song in a wavy way when she sang.

"Hey, so who's up for some "Cuckoo?" Lucy said, having come in with Audrey. Cuckoo was the name of one of the songs we were singing, and it wasn't a  _bad_  song, it was actually kinda dramatic, but the name was just a  _bit_  weird. Lucy was a soprano, and though she could sing lower like the altos, she preferred having the melody and such. Not to mention that though she could  _do_  the low parts, she didn't exactly like it, and said it was hard to sing anything lower than an octave below her normal zone. She preferred the key of G in turn and nearly died when they had to sight read a song in the key of C since she wasn't used to it. It wasn't really her fault. Our teacher did key of G or key of F in our practice, but when we went to be judged in this big formal thing by judges, we had key of C for our challenge, and we weren't used to the location of the notes or the sound of them.

"Yea  _C_ uckoo," Audrey said, accentuating the C and almost spitting it out like we'd been taught.

"Audrey, do you guys have your Spanish test on Wednesday or Thursday?" Veon asked.

"Wednesday. You have the listening quiz too?"

"Yep. And I have it at the beginning of the day, so unlike you, I can't study during lunch and have to take it half asleep."

"I got a 70 on mine," Lucy said unhappily. "I'm not exactly sure what I messed up on, and it makes me frustrated. I've got a 91, so I'm still an A, but that's like one of 2 C's I've ever gotten on any test in  _any_ class."

"Hey, I got a 60 on my last one," Audrey said.

"A 60?!" Emily exclaimed.

"Yeah."

"You guys are making me regret putting Spanish on my course selections," Emily muttered.

"Spanish 2 is a lot harder than Spanish 1," Veon assured her. "And I'm sure we won't forget enough Spanish over summer to help you with the basics." The bell rang and class started. Everyone rushed to their seats and did warms ups. When the class was over, lunch came next, and it was nachos today. The four of them sat together with numerous other boys at their table, most of which made inappropriate comments and shouted cusses loud enough to be heard half-way across the planet, but it wasn't exactly new.

"Mrs. Erica is  _so_  boring," Kaleb complained. "She talks SO slow, and never lets us do ANYTHING other than work. Mrs. Terra at least lets us have a break between classes since Math is two hours."

"She even once allowed us to play musical chairs," Lucy quickly added. Veon personally found Mrs. Erica a good teacher. She got the slackers in class to work and disciplined them when they had their phones out and such. Veon never really found much need for being on his phone 24/7, as he didn't have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, or anything else except Youtube, really. Mrs. Erica's way of teaching helped them get more work done than other teachers, and repeatedly doing a problem was the only way Veon could possible get information into his mind during class. The conversation went on with more and more complaining, and Emily scolding to not say such harsh things but being so kind that she couldn't scold properly, especially against a guy like Kaleb. Then, in a flash, things went wrong.

First, there was a crash. The windows of the commons area (cafeteria) shattered and the building shook, as something larger than a car smashed into it. Near everyone was knocked out of their seated from the quake, only some managing to grab the tables and keep their balance, but then whatever was outside reared back and rammed into the school again. There was shouting, kids running and Veon cursed as quietly as he could, the world slipping out by accident when he realized what was happening.

Veon pulled himself to his feet, moving first to get everyone moving and leaving. Monsters like this had been appearing more and more frequently, becoming annoying at this point. Once everyone was clear of the cafeteria, he realized that the shaking had stopped and the monster outside was distracted by something, or some _one_ , rather. Outside, a boy who couldn't have been older than 14 or 15, was in a battle stance, a pure black sword in his hand, and facing the monster that now had its back to the school. The kid had black hair, a black T-shirt with a skull on the front, a chain for a belt, and jeans, also black.

" ** _Emo much?_** " Veon thought to himself. Though it wasn't like black wasn't something  _he_  wore every day, but at least he had blue jeans and an olive green jacket on top of his black shirt. Veon ran forward. If the kid had a sword, he had to be different like Veon, but it wasn't like he was just going to leave this kid have all the credit.

"Ve where are you going?!" Lucy called.

"I'll be fine, go!" He called and continued without waiting for her response.

It had been at least three years now when Veon first learned he was different. Was special really what one should call it? As his thirteenth birthday had grown closer, he'd realized he felt this tingle in his fingers, this sense that wasn't normal. He felt it asking to be commanded, and then one day, he touched a plant and it turned to dust. He'd played enough videogames and read enough books to not have a panic attack, but after that, the tingle in his fingers felt more painful, like he'd just realized they weren't used for life, but death. Life was great, life was the reason he and everyone else was alive, but he'd expanded his view on life from a young age thanks to those videogames and books and seen that death was an inevitable part of life. You can save as many people as you want from attacks, from disease, but in the end, they'll die of old age even if you protected them with everything you had. Death had to happen, one way or another. Still, that didn't mean he couldn't extend a few lives if he could. He wondered if any other heroes he'd read about or seen ever thought about life like that, yet still tried to save people because saving people just felt right, even if they may end one day eventually. That's how he'd learned to see life, from a different perspective, that maybe his power over death and darkness could be used in a good way, no matter how futile a god may see it as, and yeah, he'd met a few, including his father not long after things had changed.

Veon ran outside, the doors no longer a problem as they had been thrown off their hinges, and got a better view of the situation. And now, he despite his control over his emotions and his hatred for cursing, he was ready so curse his head off. In front of him was a gray dragon-like monster, but it had numerous dragon heads, and at first he thought it was Cerberus (yes, he'd seen the giant dog himself) when his mind clicked and he realized it was a hydra, with  _way_  more heads than the hound he'd once seen and never hoped to see again. A real life, f-ing hydra. Of course, with so many heads, one of them on the side turned to him, the others doing the same and seeming to find the other idiot high school kid that came to face it (them?) an easier meal than the guy with the black sword.

"Uh-oh," Was all he managed to say before the giant beast attacked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope readers enjoyed this FanFic. I hate cliffhangers as much as the next person, but if you hold on, I promise there's a both deep and humorous story developing. I welcome any comments or suggestions for the story, as this is my first fic. I plan to write the rest of the series, most of it if not a part here and there, in first person, switching between characters.


	2. A Real, Life, F-ing Hydra

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the second chapter of this story, quick and easy for those readers who hate cliffhangers (I feel you people.) I will be doing the chapters in first person from now on, and I hope you readers enjoy.

First Person: Zytaveon

I jumped to the side, knowing only that if I didn't, I'd regret it. I wasn't exactly a fan of gym class, and only took one because it was required to get the credits to graduate. I had faced my fair share of monsters in the past, but never something this big. Usually, I could just touch them and will my power to turn them to ash, spread said ash before it could reform (because lately they'd been doing that) and it'd be done with. I'd never turned something larger than myself bigger to ash, and even the largest thing I'd done, a griffin, I believe, had left me too tired to even move for a while. I'd lied to my mom, said some kid from school knocked me out when Lucy had found me and called 911. At least back then these monsters hadn't been able to reform, so I'd gotten lucky, but now that they were, even if I was stronger than before, I doubt I'd be able to turn this thing to ash, not to mention stopping it from reforming. What in my father's name was I thinking?

"Kid, come on!" Someone yelled, grabbing my arm. It was that guy from before with the black sword. He was pretty thin, his skin pale enough to be a vampire's (fitting, considering his all black attire), but he was pretty strong and pulled me to my feet without breaking stride, as he was running around the hydra to get to me. He dragged me forward and I followed, realizing that I'd just created a challenge for him, running in like a heroic fool. Sure, I had power, but not in this situation. I needed a weapon, but it wasn't like you could go out and buy a sword that would stand up to a hydra. Of course, legends about hydras, along with some of the movies I'd watched, told me that hydras could breathe-

"Fire!" I shouted. That kid looked behind us just to see a wave of flames spewed from two of the hydras heads. He was quick, and pulled me to the side behind the side of the building. We were in the open, not to mention the school was surrounded by grass, and it wasn't exactly a cold or rainy autumn. I'd read way too many books and played far too many videogames, so I hadn't exactly read up on the scientific and historic details about hydras (because they may be interesting but I prefer fiction over non-fiction), so I wasn't sure if they started with one head or five, but I noticed that the hydra had more than five heads, meaning this kid may have tried to sever its head at least four times, well,  _one_  of its heads. That's obviously not the way to beat a hydra, but he had to have known that and the severing of the heads was an accident if it did indeed start with one head.

"Do you have a plan to beat that thing?" I asked. "Or are we gonna have to run?"

"Who are you supposed to be, kid?" He asked.

"Zytaveon, and I am at  _least_  two years older than you,  _kid_."

"Nico, and I'm older than I look."

"Whatever. Can you beat that thing? What powers do you have? Who's  _your_  parent?"

"So you know?"

"I may look like an idiot who can't fight a hydra, but I know a  _little_."

"I guess you  _are_  old enough to have your powers. Who's your parent?"

"I asked first."

"Hades."

"Oh, great, me too," I said sarcastically. It wasn't that this guy, Nico, seemed like a bad person, but the idea that he'd be related to me was a bit weird. I didn't want to think about the fact that Hades, and most of the other gods, had many children, some more than others, that were only half-bloods. I'll admit, I've never met other half-god kids before, and if I have, I haven't realized it, but the realization that everything Hades had explained was true seemed to come crashing down on me. I'd known I had powers, I'd known about monsters and gods, but suddenly it all seemed real, seemed like now that I'd seen someone else like me everything wasn't just a dream after all.

"Well, nice to meet you. Do you have a handle on the powers you have?"

"I've never beaten something so big before, but yeah. I can turn things to ash, and teleport under the right conditions. I can sense death and such, but I assume that's just a child-of-Hades thing."

"How well can you fight?"

"Not exactly an athlete here, but I can swing a sword as good as the next guy, if I had one. It's not like you can go to Wal-Mart and by Stygian sword, my friend. Anyway, do you have a way to beat the hydra or not?"

"You mean without it reforming?"

"Deal with that part later, but we can separate the ashes, throw them in the nearest river if we can, but for now-" I was interrupted by the hydra slamming against the wall of the building, clearly either too dumb to come around the corner or too angry to think rationally in a fight at the fact that his meal ran away. The other kids had hopefully gotten clear, but being a teenager that's grown up with these people, I'd guess there are plenty staying behind and trying to catch a video.

"Right, we need to finish this thing fast," I said.

"Agreed." When he made no move to elaborate, I clenched my fists.

"For the last time, PLAN?!"

"Stab its heart out."

"Can't very well do that when there are at least five hungry heads trying to eat you, and I'm sure if you threw that sword, the heads would be happy to take the hit and gain  _another_  freaking serpent that wants to kill us."

"You sound like you've got an idea."

"I play a lot of videogames. But we're gonna need someone strong, and I don't know about you, but dad didn't exactly make us Supermen."

"I can help with that," Lucy said. I jumped and realized she was standing right behind me. "You need me to help, just ask."

"One: how the hell did you just do that? Two: What can you do?"

"I'm fast, strong and can blast stuff." I shook my head. Okay…so my friend that I had known for three years turns out to be a demi-god. "Not to mention I've learned to be creative, so don't think I don't have tricks up my sleeve."

"Who are you?" Nico asked. Lucy extended her hand.

"Zyanya, daughter of Zenobia." Nico raised an eyebrow and I searched my head through all the memories I had of gods. I'd done some serious research after I'd found out my dad was one. There was a  _queen_  named Zenobia that had brought most of the Roman East under her sway and culminated with the annexation of Egypt, but I don't think she was a god, least of all a Greek god.

"Never heard of her," Nico said, shaking her extended hand. Lucy smiled.

"She prefers it that way," There was something sadistic and condescending in her smile, and it was nothing like the teenager I'd come to know. It was kinda freaky. "Anyway, to defeat a hydra, you aim for its back. Hit it hard enough, and boom, every head is paralyzed, no matter how many there are. That's a hydra's weakness. No matter how many heads, they'll always be stuck with one body. Weighing them down like an anchor, like chains that won't let them separate heads roam free." She almost seemed to be zoning out until she snapped back to attention. "I'll hit the hydra hard. Try not to get killed until then, and maybe we can turn it to ash before this gets caught on camera."

"What about it reforming?" I asked.

"We're here for that," Audrey said. She and Emily were standing to my left, just out of my peripheral vision while I was talking to Nico and Lucy - or Zyanya, apparently. Seriously, how were these women just  _appearing_?! Was I just not paying attention or were these people just teleporters?! I've seen weirder, and have teleported myself, but seriously, these people were silent and swift, or I was just oblivious.

"We'll handle the ashes," Emily promised, smiling like nothing was wrong.

"Well, technically,  _I'll_  handle the ashes, but yeah," Audrey said casually, her hands in her jacket pockets. Normal people would've argued if they were in Emily's position, saying that they were going to help too, even if in a trivial way, but Emily just smiled and nodded.

"Yep, that's what I meant." The building shook again as the hydra got impatient, like "What the hell are you guys doing back there?!"

"We should probably get started," Luc - Zyanya said as she rolled up the sleeves of her jacket to her elbows and clenched her fists in a battle ready stance. "Wait till I give the signal. Trust me, you won't miss it!" She took off faster than any human should've been able to. I guess she  _did_  say she was fast.

I looked around the corner of the building to find that despite her speed, she managed to get the attention of the hydra, and that meant it turned towards her, making her job of getting behind it to hit it on the back all the harder, if not impossible. She hid behind another part of the building and kneeled down before pulling. To my surprise, even after everything I'd seen, the friend that I knew that could barely tolerate 5 minutes of gym class began to lift an enormous chunk of earth out of the ground. The ground shook and cracked in resistance, but she barely strained as she tugged and a boulder  _way_  bigger than her was forced out of the ground as she held it above her head. Then she reared back and swung it 270 degrees around the corner of the building she was behind right dead center into the mass of hydra heads behind her.

At least three of them screeched and reared back while the two on either end blew streams of fire at her. She ran  _into_  the fire, though, unaffected, and punched the one on the right with an uppercut that sent its head back in recoil. She kicked the left head when it moved in to attack her, but she was now right in the center of the heads, and the three in the center weren't dazed enough that they couldn't snap blindly in front of them, sending Zyanya back in a lapse of concentration.

"Lu!" I shouted impulsively. Random power bursts and secret identities or not, she was still a high school teen that couldn't do this all on her own.

"We'll need to act as a distraction," Nico said, holding up his sword. "She can't get behind the hydra to hit it hard enough without the hydra hitting and sending her back. How many of you are good at dodging?"

"Nope," Audrey said bluntly, but also calmly.

"Sorry, no," Emily said, frowning at her inability to do much physically.

"Then you're with me," He said, clearly unable to remember my name.

"Veon," I muttered. "All right. Split up around the hydra. It has many heads, but like she said, they're limited by the body, and they can only chose one of us to go after. When it does, the two of us run to a single point around it and make sure it can only focus on us and not her."

"You been doing this a while?" Nico asked, seeing my strategic planning.

"No, I just play videogames." I ran out, choosing the left side, while Nico followed but went to the right. The two of us shouted, waving an arm in the air, and the hydra's heads turned, half to me, half to Nico. Seeing as I hadn't shown any ability to resist the hydra and Nico had, it wasn't really a surprise when the heads wordlessly agreed to come upon me. Up close, the thing looked even scarier, the growls of its heads turning my insides to jelly and I realized what the heck I'd gotten into just a moment too late to turn back. I could see the teeth of the hydra, I realized just how tall it was, and that I wasn't moving backwards even as it advanced forward. I willed my legs to move, but this wasn't as easy as speaking in front of a crowd in English class, and my legs wouldn't obey. I'd seen scary before, but this was a hydra, and I certainly hadn't faced one before. A real live, f-ing hydra was going to kill me.

Suddenly I was literally knocked off my feet by Zyanya, who sped me out of the way just as the hydra attempted to roast me. I ended up falling on the ground, at least fifty feet away and extremely dizzy from the wind being knocked out of me and moving faster than any human or demi-god should be thrown without warning.

"Yo, Veon. Wake up, stay with me. For goodness sake, can't even move when the thing is  _that close?!_ " She sighed. "Stay here and try not to do anything you can't handle." I held my head as she walked away. The speed she'd grabbed me at should've snapped my neck, and it was surprising that it didn't. I was able to regain my vision enough to see her and Nico fighting the hydra. I was dimly aware of Emily and Audrey talking to me or something, but I couldn't hear them or wasn't listening.

With Zyanya clearly more of a threat, it was near impossible for Nico to get the attention off of her, but with multiple heads, that didn't necessarily mean he could stab the thing while she took the attention instead.

"They need a bigger distraction," Emily muttered. "Audrey?" Audrey sighed, but she took her hands out of her pockets.

"Let's hope this works," She said. I stood in confusion, my head clearing when Audrey stepped forward and held her hands out. "I don't have a lot to work with, Emily. I can't exactly pull water out of thin air."

"Well…you could use the water from the school's plumbing, but you shouldn't do too much damage to the school so-"

"Done!" Audrey interrupted and tensed as she concentrated. Suddenly the school burst with a wave of water, the shattered windows working to the water's favor, and Audrey thrust her arms forward, palms facing the hydra. Zyanya grabbed Nico and moved before the wave crashed against the hydra, sweeping it away with its screams being drowned in the water.

"Holy -" Okay, so I slipped again and cussed. Excuse me if there was a lot of stuff happening! Audrey too! With the water, I'd assume she's a daughter of Poseidon. And now Emily was going to tell me she's a daughter of Zeus and we'd have one big, happy family!

"I can't hold this forever, guys!" Audrey shouted over the roar of her wave, but it was clearly decreasing in power and the hydra was getting a foothold again, not to mention Audrey's voice was strained and she was visibly shaking.

"I got it!" Zy yelled. "When the hydra's down, hit it, Nico!" She ran off and disappeared behind the distracted hydra, and when Audrey finally lowered her hands and fell to lie down, panting heavily, Nico ran up, sword at the ready.

I wanted to do something more than have to be rescued, unlike Emily who was fine letting the others take the glory. Of course, though I was  _very_  mature (I'm serious!) there was that part of me that didn't want Nico to succeed. Sadly, my wish came true and one of the hydra heads managed to chomp down on his sword, tossing Nico away by shaking its head like a dog and then tossing the sword in the opposite direction. But Zyanya had yet to notice as until she jumped up high above the hydra, a boulder in her arms above her. She couldn't stop now, but there'd be no one to hit the hydra in time. Any second risked for Nico to recover his sword and then charge at the hydra would risk the thing gaining the little strength it needed to retaliate.

A sword, I could world with. Hitting the ground running, I could work with. I ran forward, Nico's sword on the ground in my path, snatching it up and never breaking stride. I forced myself to speed up, mostly so I could make up for lost ground that Nico would've had, but also to make sure I couldn't stop myself if I got scared. It was now or never. Seeing this, Zyanya regained her composure, almost having hovered in the air when she saw the problem, but now gravity seemed to increase for her only and she slammed down on the hydra's back harder than gravity should've allowed.

Every one of the hydra heads instantly spasmed and roared, their heads moving up as its body was nearly crushed under the forced Zyanya put upon it. With its heads out of the way, I charged, sprinting as fast as I could while I had the chance and thrusting Nico's sword into the chest of the hydra before I could stop myself and lose the courage. Then, unexpectedly, the tingle I got in my fingers when I used my powers returned, but without me willing it. I tried to let go of the sword, but I couldn't. I began to panic and pulled on the sword, but it was stuck in the hydra as well.

My hands began to feel numb from the tingle, like when you accidentally sat on your leg and your foot went numb but when you allowed circulation again, your foot tingled so much it was painful. That was what my hands felt like, but the feeling began to spread up my arms, as if what was happening wasn't scary enough already. It spread slowly enough that I could panic, but fast enough that I couldn't even scream before I lost the ability get anything out, the pain spreading to my head and my ability to feel or control anything gone. And then I felt death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there's Veon's first battle with a hydra. For all those who wish for more storyline and less detailed explanation of the fighting, I hear you, I understand, and the storyline will continue in the next chapter, I promise. Plenty of bombshells dropped in this story, and more information to come. Please comment with suggestions and advice, I'd love to hear feedback.


	3. Meeting with Fathers and Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the longest chapter yet with explanations and storyline. I hope any readers who find this enjoy the story that's developing.

I opened my eyes, realizing what was going on and grumbled. I didn't think Hades was necessarily a  _bad_ father, but it was certainly awkward when you wanted to talk to him. He could only appear under certain conditions, but it wasn't like I wasn't used to growing up without a dad. Mom told me the story of how they fell in love, but it was a long time ago and I was half asleep at the time, as she was telling it to me so I could fall asleep. She called him a god, but I'm still not sure if she actually knew he was one, or if that was a figure of speech. In any case, he was Hades, and he was here.

"What happened?" I asked, sitting up. Around me, there was only grey, no floor (though I was laying on  _something_  even if I couldn't see it), no walls, no end to the sky. Hades had talked to me a few times in this place, said I should just know it was a place we could talk and leave it at that.

"It seems you had a reaction to meeting Nico and wielding his sword," Hades said. I was used to talking to him now, not being as, well, respectful, as I should've with my father.

"Any explanation as to why or what the reaction did?" I asked with a hint of annoyance in my tone. For some reason, the gods always loved to talk in riddles, dancing around the subject in every way they could and finding ways to avoid a question so well that no one could possibly keep up. Maybe it was because they knew too much and had to leave us humans to figure things out instead of just giving us the answers. If it was because they wanted us to become smarter and more capable without their help, then sure, maybe I could accept that once I had time to sit and think about it, but whenever I came face to face with my dad, I threw all that out the window and needed straight up answers. I didn't hate him, I just wasn't as close to him.

Hades, like most gods, wasn't always dressed like the classic god you'd imagine, at least at the moment. He now wore casual clothes, jeans, a black tennis shoes, and black fancy shirt with a silver tie. It was like he was trying to dress up for a meeting, but then realized he didn't have any dress pants or shoes. I couldn't tell if it was him saying, "I felt I needed to look important when I talked to you, but then again, I don't care  _that_  much."

"That remains yet to be solved," He said. "What happened was a surprising reaction. You ended up turning the hydra to ash, nearly killing yourself in the process. You are sixteen, Zytaveon, and most kids in your position go through training with their powers much earlier in life, less than a year after their powers begin to emerge."

"What about Audrey, Emily and Lu-Zyanya?"

"The first two haven't any experience, only the improvisation they've done on their own over the years. The final…well, she's a special case."

"Special how?"

"I'll let her explain that when she wants to. I won't go opening my mouth against her without her permission."

"Are you afraid of her?"

"I  _respect_  her. In any case, she will guide you from now on. You can't avoid the fate of a half-blood forever, Veon." I looked away to the grey of the world we were in, crossing my arms.

"I know that, but what exactly  _is_  the "fate" of a half-blood? To fight monsters constantly, to never feel normal again? Not every normal kid wants to be normal, not every special kid wants to be special, I get that, but I'm not sure what you want of  _me_."

"There has been a stirring with the ways of the underworld lately, though I'm sure you've noticed."

"The monsters coming back?"

"Yes. I'm sure this is only the beginning to the chaos that's coming. Hera believed this as well, but Zeus didn't heed her warning, and she went out to do something rash, only to get captured."

"Who took her?"

"The earth." I knew what he meant. I'd done my research on gods, and tried to piece together their story as best I could, and I knew the gods were far from the most powerful thing out there. Despite my bitterness towards some gods, there were people far worse, if you could even call them people.

"And that's disturbing the cycle of death?"

"That and more. You can still scatter the ashes of the dead and keep them killed for a while at least, but things will grow worse. The gods will be thrown out of balance, the doors opened for all to return. Even those from the pit." The pit. Of course. A place even the gods feared, a place that held a being that made Hades and even Death (Thanatos) look kind, and really, I'd come to realize that death could be kind in a way. You could be free from worry of life, but that pit was for those who could never reach a heaven like that.

"What can be done?"

"First, freeing Hera before her destruction leads to ever more chaos, then, Thanatos."

"Why would he…? Don't tell me he's been captured too?"

"There's definitely something wrong, as beings are coming back from the dead. Maybe he is not captured, maybe he is, but I cannot contact him, and the gods are in disarray with Hera's disappearance and the awakening of the earth."

"So I'm to go and help?" I asked, hoping it was that simple. "Rescue Hera and find Death?" To my surprise, Hades nodded, dead serious.

"Yes, but after that, I fear even worse events. Things will only get worse before they get better. Rescuing Hera and finding Thanatos should help us gain a foothold, along with putting what Hera had in mind into motion."

"And what she had in mind…?" Then, Hades smiled a smile of satisfaction and I feared what made him so happy.

"She plans to bring together a group of demi-gods, of course." I connected the dots pretty fast.

"Me? Audrey, Em?"

"Only you are a part of the ones she plans. The ones said in Apollo's children's prophecies." Apollo was a weird dude sometimes, but his sister Artemis keeps him in check…most of the time anyway. "As you may assume, I cannot divulge too much information, but I can tell you that you have an important role in fixing what has happened to the cycle of death."

"And how am I supposed to do that when I can only turn stuff to ash and maybe teleport here and there?"

"You hold power within you none of us know the limits of." My nose crinkled as I held back a smile of disbelief.

"No offense, but I'm just  _your_  son. It's not like I can do anything  _too_  special. I'm different than others, but all the gods give different "gifts" to their kids." He smiled, but more like a "What am I gonna do with you?" smile, and that could be worse than his condescending smile when he knows something good's gonna happen, at least for him.

"Zyanya will explain things and see what she can do. Hopefully your head isn't as thick as your brother's."

"Which one?"

"Nico di Angelo, the one you met today. Now, I've spent all the time I have for now." I knew he could never stay long, and there wasn't an easy or less blunt way to say "Gotta go, peace out," at least for him anyway. And since we weren't exactly the sentimental father-son type, the end of our meetings were ever more awkward as we waited the last few seconds for me to leave. But this time, it seemed he had something to say.

"Veon, understand and believe me when I say the power within you will be terrifying, but I know you have it in you to conquer it." Wow. It wasn't like Hades to get very sentimental, but I realized now that he was terrified. There was something deeper going on, and Hades must know that my failure in conquering this power would result in something bad. He could be blunt at times, or very vague, but now I realized he really didn't know what was going to happen, and he was trying to tell me that as subtly as he could. It wasn't really easy to understand each other when it came to our relationship, but I guess even the gods had feelings, even if they were good at hiding the more embarrassing ones when it came to the big guys like dad, Zeus and Poseidon.

"I hear you," I said as casually as possible, hoping he knew I understood. It would seem like nothing important now, but whatever power lied within me, whatever challenges I faced once this journey thing continued were going to be terrible, and even the gods couldn't say what would happen.

* * *

When I woke up, I found Lucy's - uh, Zyanya's (man, this was gonna take some adjusting to) forehead against mine, her eyes closed but her face way too close for comfort. Her hands were cupping my face, and she was singing a hymn, her voice familiar as she sung a high note and held it. Then, I snapped awake when I realized what was happening and jumped up. I ended up head-butting her back (not purposefully) and she held her forehead and I realized I'd heard a definite crack when I'd hit her.

"Oh my…I'm  _so_  sorry," I apologized quickly.

"Well, I see Hades likes to wake you at the most inconvenient time," She muttered, rubbing her head. She shook her head for a moment before she looked to me, completely fine. "The others were convinced you were dead, and you were for a few minutes. They said they were gonna let the Apollo kid, Will, look at you, but I knew he'd claim you dead with no hope since Hades can only contact you while you're dead, it seems. Maybe were we in a different location, but that's how it works for now."

"What were you doing?" I asked, trying to keep my voice straight. She scoffed and closed her eyes, her head turning away as she cracked her jaw.

"Healing you. What happened nearly burned you up from the inside out. You could talk with your father, sure, but had I not interfered, you would've woken up only to die again. Your powers seemed to have taken over, releasing a power wave of great strength. The cause could be the proximity to your brother, along with contact with his sword, but who can say for sure? In any case, you're here and alive."

There was a serious change in her normal tone, deepness, harshness, and also ancientness. She even looked older, like one of those things where you don't get enough sleep and or you're stressed so much that you look like you've aged ten years. She didn't exactly look like she'd aged ten, but it was more like she'd put on makeup or something, which she never did, by the way. Yet there was no evidence of makeup, and I know that even if she's changed, she would rather go to the pit then be caught wearing makeup.

"What exactly are you?" I wondered aloud. She smiled.

"Nothing you need to be concerned with. I assume Hades explained the story, so no need to repeat things. I'll look after you in these troubling days and such, but that doesn't mean I'm obligated to tell you who or what I am. Just know that I can kill you, bring you back from the dead and kill you again, son of Hades." I stared and she looked at me, dead serious. "Now, to more pressing matters. I'll have to inform you of our location." She walked out of the room, which I now noticed looked a lot like a cabin.

I followed her out to find it looked like we were indeed in a cabin. Audrey and Emily were sitting in a living room that was pretty big. Of course then my mind processed the fact that there was another man in the room, and he was a…a centaur! Sure, I'd seen a lot today, or at least I  _think_  it was today (who knows how long I was out?) but this day just kept getting weirder and weirder.

"Chiron, he's up," Zyanya said. I tried not to stare at the fact that Chiron was a white stallion from the waist down, or the fact that he wore a T-shirt that said  _World's Best Centaur_ , but then someone came bursting through the door, panting from having run very quickly to get her.

"Sir…" He said, still regaining his breath. "Annabeth and…Butch are…back…but they crashed…in the lake."

"Fetch them at once, Zyanya. I wish to see what they've returned with." She nodded and headed out, and I instinctively followed. No way was I leaving the one girl who I (sort of) knew and that could explain what was going on. Besides, Hades said she's look after me, so why not stick with her? Audrey and Emily followed as well and we followed Zyanya to find a large mass of people at the edge of the lake, helping a group of people dry off. A couple of pegasi were flapping their wings and drying off, clearly having been fished from the lake as well, and were getting everyone wet.

All of the campers, ranging from ages maybe nine to nineteen, seemed to be wearing orange shirts and jeans, barring a random difference here or there, and most of them were armed with some kind of weapon. It made me realize how much I needed some kind of weapon to work with for monsters like the hydra. I couldn't become too dependent on my powers if I ever faced a situation like this again.

Apparently people were prepared for this kind of thing happening, as a group of campers ran up with big, bronze, leaf-blower like things, blasting the boys and girls that had been soaking wet dry within seconds. Cool. The first girl had brown hair, cut choppy and uneven with thin strands braided down the sides. She wore faded jeans, hiking boots, and a fleece snowboarding jacket, and wore no makeup yet still didn't look bad. She clearly didn't like attention, and though I wasn't attracted to her in  _that_  way, she wasn't bad looking and drew eyes despite her clear attempts not to.

The second girl was wearing an orange shirt, clearly from this camp like the rest of the people here. She had blond hair and looked a little down because of something. She looked a little angry, probably from the fact that she'd just crashed into a lake, but there was something else on her mind too. Not that I was any expert in facial expressions.

The first boy was a Latino boy with curly black/brown hair, pointy ears, a babyish face, one that, when he smiled, seemed to give an impression that told you not to trust him with sharp objects, matches, or anything else he could possibly get his hands on. The second boy had blond hair, and he didn't look so much upset at being tossed into a lake than confused at all the people surrounding him.

"Annabeth!" A blond haired boy with a bow and quiver on his back shouted, pushing through the crowd. "When I said you could  _borrow_  the chariot, I didn't mean you could  _destroy_  it!"

"I'm sorry, Will," The blond haired girl, Annabeth, said, sighing. "I promise, I'll have it fixed." Will scowled at his broken chariot. Hadn't Zyanya mentioned an Apollo kid named Will…? Apollo kids weren't exactly smiles and sunshine all the time, but some had the power to heal, and you'd think they'd be nice kids. I'd never met any Apollo kids, but that's what dad had told me once. I guess he really cared about that chariot.

"Who are these guys?" He asked, diverting his attention to the other three. "They look way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed yet?"

"Claimed?" The black haired boy asked, but Will ignored him and turned to Annabeth just as she was about to explain.

"Any sign of him?" He asked. Annabeth shook her head sadly.

"No," She admitted. "No Percy." The campers muttered amongst themselves, and clearly this, uh,  _Percy_ , was important to them. This place did kinda seem like a big family when you looked at them, one of those close communities where everyone knows everyone. Another girl, from the crowds this time, stepped forward. She was Asian, tall, dark hair in ringlets, perfect makeup and plenty of jewelry. Her Asian look reminded me of Zyanya, if Zyanya needed makeup, jewelry and anything else to feel beautiful. She'd told me make-up, fancy clothes and jewelry were a waste of time, and that looking semi-decent was good enough for her.

Even now, her hair black hair was in a pony tail, but multiple strands were escaping in a choppy fashion, her clothes were dirtied from running around with the hydra, but she seemed to like it that way. She wasn't a girl who suffered from acne problems, and they came and left without her really caring, and now she looked displeased at the other Asian girl's presence, her face making an angry look that was both scary and appealing. Her eyes seemed to be shooting invisible daggers, but the other girl didn't seem to notice or was very good at hiding her discomfort, because even though Zyanya wasn't shooting that glare at me, I wanted to take a  _very_  big step back.

This girl looked to the two boys like a condescending judge at a fashion show, and her face looked like she wasn't very interested, but they'll do, and then she looked to the brown haired girl and if I thought hard face looked critical before, she was just disgusted now. I hated these types of people, and it took all of my willpower not to turn her to dust right then and there as my fingers tingled with the power coursing through them. I clenched my fist and suppressed it, but only just.

"Well, I hope they're worth the trouble," The girl said. The brown haired boy grumbled.

"What are we, new pets?"

"No kidding," The blond boy added. "How about before you start judging us, you give us some answers. Where we are, why we're here, how long we have to stay?"

"Jason, I promise we'll answer all your questions," Annabeth said before turning to glamour girl. "And Drew, all demigods are worth saving. Although the trip didn't accomplish what I had hoped."

"Hey, we didn't ask to be brought here," The brown haired girl said.

"And nobody  _wants_  you here, dear," This Drew said. "Does your hair always look like that? A dead badger if I ever saw one." I grunted and stepped forward, ready to smack her even if I couldn't turn her to dust. Audrey grabbed my left arm, but I was physically larger than her, so that barely affected me. Getting desperate, she wrapped her entire arm around mine and held me back, planting her feet.

"Emily, little help here…?" She requested, grunting. Emily stepped forward and grabbed my right arm the same way Audrey had my left, but her grip wasn't very tight as she didn't like restraining people, and wasn't very strong. My burst of anger wore off before I did any harm, but we had attracted enough attention for all of the campers to see us.

"And who are they?" Annabeth asked as I jerked my arms free from my friends. I acted annoyed, but I was secretly glad they stopped me. I couldn't get so angry over words. Though the words weren't directed at me, that was what made it worse. This brown haired girl didn't look the slightest bit embarrassed or scared, and my interference would've made her look like a girl that relied on another to help her stand up to a bully, when that clearly wasn't the case.

"Zytaveon. Audrey. Emily," I said, nodding to the respective girls who waved in response. "New here, and your arrival interrupted the explanation of what the heck is going on here."

"We must make our guests feel welcome then," Annabeth said, taking control from Drew. Clearly, she didn't like her either. "They'll be assigned guides to show them around the camp, and hopefully they'll be claimed by the campfire tonight."

"Would somebody please tell me what  _claimed_  means?" The brown haired girl demanded, speaking my thoughts. Suddenly there was a collective gasp, campers backing away and I put my hand in front of my face to block a bright light. I managed to open my eyes to see that above the curly haired kid's head was a holographic image of a fiery hammer, shining bright enough to make me want to melt into the shadows for safety.

"That's claiming," Zyanya said bluntly.

"What did I do?!" The boy panicked, backing up. He looked to the hammer. "Is my hair on fire?" He tried to duck, but the image followed him. He moved to the left, right, and then around, like he was trying to draw a picture.

"The curse…!" A boy muttered to Annabeth.

"Butch, shut it," Annabeth hissed before stepping forward. "Leo, you've just been claimed-"

"By a god," The blond haired boy (was it Jason?) interrupted. "Vulcan. That's the symbol of Vulcan, right?" Everyone in the camp turned to him and I looked around, wondering what they were so worked up about.

"Jason, how did you know that?" Annabeth asked cautiously, as though Jason would lash out at her if she said anything wrong.

"I'm not sure," He said, seemingly reaching for a memory but failing.

"Vulcan?!" The boy, Leo, demanded. "I don't even  _like_  Star Trek! What are you all talking about?!"

"Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus, the god of blacksmiths and fire," I said, and everyone looked to me now. "What? I read stuff!" I said defensively. The hammer above Leo faded and he swatted the air, like it was invisible and trying to trick him into letting his guard down.

"Hephae-who?" He asked. "God of what?"

"Will, take Leo and give him a tour, will you?" Annabeth requested. "Introduce him to his bunkmates over in Cabin Nine."

"Sure thing," Will said.

"What's Cabin Nine?" Leo asked defensively. "I'm not a Vulcan!"

"Come on, Mr. Spock," Will said, placing a hand on his shoulder and guiding him away. "I'll explain on the way." Then, Annabeth turned to this Jason. Best to get along with those who are in the same boat as us. Who knows? Maybe they're some of the half-bloods Hera chose. In that case, I'd best look after them.

"Hold out your arm," Annabeth demanded after studying Jason like a criminal. He did so, though a bit confused, when we all saw a tattoo on the inside of his right forearm. It was darkly etched,  _burned_  onto him: a dozen straight lines like a barcode, and over that, an eagle with the letters SPQR. SPQR…that sounded familiar. Somewhere in the depths of my memory I  _knew_  I'd heard or seen it before during my summers of research, learning all about the gods, learning they had Roman and Greek forms, and that my father was Greek, going into the details about the Greeks, but also their Roman counterparts. Apparently, my dad's name meant  _The Invisible One_ , and his Roman half was Pluto. A lot of the Roman Gods were planets, in fact. Odd.

"Where did you get marks like these?" Annabeth questioned. "I've never seen them before."

"I'm getting really tired of saying this, but I don't know," He said. So he didn't remember things about himself? I've never seen it firsthand, but I heard from my father that Greeks and Romans don't get along very well, including him and his Roman half, even though still he considers Pluto's children his own but also not his children, and vice versa with Pluto and Hades children. Yeah, I thought it was complicated too. Once again, gods were confusing.

"They looked burned into your skin," Annabeth noticed.

"They were," He said, but then he winced like a memory of it was coming back to him, only to escape him before he could cling to it and recover more from it. Memories always lead to other memories, so if this guy could remember one thing, it might allow him to jog the rest of his memories. "I…don't remember. I think so…" Everyone looked to Annabeth, clearly looking to her authority.

"You need to see Chiron right away," She declared. "Drew, could you-?"

"Absolutely!" Drew immediately said, linking her arm with his. Great. "I'll take you to our director. He's an interesting guy." She shot the brown haired girl a smug look, and clearly she had something for him and Drew was reveling in her seeing them walk off together. Man, I hated that girl right now. Keep calm, I reminded myself. The crowds slowly dispersed, and Zyanya said she'd show me around and assigned someone else for Em and Audrey. Still, I hardly listened to her explanation as we walked around. Questions piled up in my mind. What did it mean to be claimed? Audrey and I clearly had our powers, and I at least knew about my parentage. Hades had talked to me plenty of times, and even if he wasn't the father other people had, he was mine and I could deal with our relationship the way it was. Had I been claimed already? How would they know when someone's been claimed? Heck, was  _Audrey_  claimed yet? And what was going on the Em? Most of all, what the heck had we gotten ourselves into?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now the group has came to Camp Half-Blood, and we'll move to another perspective in the next chapter! Please post reviews with questions, comments, concerns or suggestions. I'd appreciate any feedback.


	4. Daughter of Kindness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now a chapter from Emily's point of view. Please enjoy, and review with questions, comments, concerns and suggestions. The feedback would be greatly appreciated.

First Person: Emily

Audrey and I had been assigned a girl named Lou Ellen to show us around. She said she was a daughter of Hecate, though I wasn't much of an expert on Greek gods and had no idea what that meant. Audrey was lucky. She knew who her father was, whether she'd been claimed like that boy Leo or not in the past, I had yet to ask, but I didn't even know who my parent was. I knew it was my mother, and that narrowed things down a bit, but there were numerous cabins here, and at least half of them had to be female, right?

Lou Ellen explained the cabin names, and that a demigod was usually claimed by their parent at the age of thirteen when brought to "Camp Half-Blood." When they do reach the age of thirteen, monsters begin to be able to sense them, and they usually had to flee until they came to this camp. Odd. Audrey and I had seen  _some_  monsters like that in the past, but Audrey was usually able to take care of them, always carrying a water bottle (daughter of Poseidon and all). The monsters hadn't ever been as big as that hydra, though.

One time, Audrey had a new water bottle and was struggling to get the lid unscrewed while we were attacked, and then Lucy had stepped on it and smashed it to dust before it could charge. She told us to keep who she was a secret, even to Veon, and told us he was a son of Hades. I respected her request, and Audrey said that wouldn't be too hard. Who knew she actually had another name? Apparently, she'd been sent as a protector, as people are sent to look after demigods when they reach 13 and bring them to the camp. I wonder why she waited so long to bring us.

"So what are the symbols for when you've been claimed?" I asked. When I was claimed, I wanted to know what I was the moment I saw it. Lou Ellen put her hand to her chin in thought.

"Well, I know Poseidon is a green trident, and Demeter, a gold sickle with a few sheathes of wheat, but not every claiming comes with a symbol over their head like Leo. Sometimes it's just a pink aura for Aphrodite and an outfit change."

"Outfit change?" Audrey repeated.

"They end up with perfect makeup, perfect hair, a new outfit, and such to accentuate their beauty. She  _is_  a goddess of love, after all." Why would they need beauty for love? Hadn't any of the gods seen  _Beauty and the Beast_? Maybe I was just optimistic, I had been told I was to an extreme extent, but love was something that would never die if it was real, right? Sure, I'd had a boyfriend before and we'd broken up, but that was because life never allowed the kind of love you see in the movies. Who cares about looks? A person can try to look nice, but it doesn't mean they have to be perfect for them to love and/or be loved. Beauty or otherwise.

"So, any other gods that give an outfit change?" Audrey asked.

"Well, Hades, I think."

"Hades?" I asked, snapping out of my thoughts.

"Yeah. They end up in a black toga and such with a black aura, and they have jewels lined along it as well, and Hades is also the god of the Earth's riches, or something like that." Now that was a thought that I smiled at, before covering it in fear Veon might see me even if he wasn't here. I could barely imagine him in an outfit like that, no matter who his dad was, yet what I  _could_  imagine was hilarious. "Granted, I've never seen it in person before. That's just what I've been told, gossip around the camp. Nico di Angelo had been claimed without any witnesses I know of, so who can be sure?"

Nico had left us not long after dropping us off at the camp with Mr. Chiron, saying that he had seen the hydra while he was on the way to somewhere else and helped out, but needed to go now. He was a very kind and stern boy, but apparently he didn't like physical touch. Veon had never been like that, so it couldn't just be a son of Hades thing. I was instantly worried about him, as I was whenever I saw someone who was unhappy for one reason or another. But it was clear he didn't want to talk about it, so I would respect his wishes.

Lou Ellen moved on to show us more of the camp, from a lava wall, magic archery, fighting monsters and pegasus riding (the final one sounding very entertaining.) She pointed out an open-air dining pavilion overlooking Long Island South, and I realized just how far Nico and Zyanya had taken us, as we lived in Colorado. We were told how the camp was supposed to be only for summer, but kids were staying year round now, so it was crowded, even in the winter.

I wondered: would we be able to go back to our lives? No doubt we're now on a missing children's list at this point, and with the havoc of the hydra, it'd be hard to go back without getting in trouble when questioned. Sadly, even though we'd now been introduced to a whole new world of magic and powers and gods, the real world still existed everywhere else.

"So, have you guys been running for the past three years or so?" Lou Ellen asked.

"Well, not really," Audrey admitted.

"What? No getting kicked out or running away? We demigods tend to be "troublemakers" and are usually diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, or dyslexia, or both, or - well you get the picture. We're hardwired for battle, restless, impulsive - we don't really fit in very well. You haven't gotten into  _any_  trouble?"

"Not that I know of," Audrey said. "I mean sure, we've maybe caused an issue or two, but no one knew it was us, and Emily is too good to get into trouble. The girl has trouble getting mad at anyone, and isn't very good at arguing."

"Sounds like Hestia. She's humble, never sought power, even willingly gave up her throne as an Olympian to Dionysus and was deemed "The Last Olympian," as she would stay peaceful even as the gods went to war. She's kind, sweet, earning the love of her entire family, and none of the gods could fight in her presence. When they  _did_  get into fights, they would take a break by sitting next to her as her presence would be enough to calm anyone talking to her, and was empathetic to all her siblings, even Hades, along with their children. She was the only one on Olympus to get along with every other Olympian, even Ares.

"Of course, she never wished to marry, not uncommon for female gods, and turned down many males. Zeus, her brother who admired her as well, agreed to let her remain alone for as long as she liked, for eternity even, and along with Poseidon and Apollo, vowed to punish anyone who would ever attempt to "woo" her in the future. I'm not really sure if she'd break that streak, but you never know. I think she even met Percy once and helped him in a quest. Having someone like her could be useful, and it's not like Hestia doesn't feel the slightest hatred towards her father despite her kind attitude."

"Wait, if Zeus is her brother, that'd make her mine and Veon's aunt," Audrey realized.

"We could be cousins!" I said smiling.

"Well, all of us demigods are related in one way or another," Lou Ellen said. "Anyway, you never know whether Hestia would have a daughter or not, considering she refused to become a mother."

"But still, the possibility is exciting!"

"Well, I'm not sure Hestia would ever admit to having a child, as she vowed to remain single for the rest of time." I felt a sinking feeling eat away at my previous joy. She was saying I might never be claimed. I stayed positive, as I always had. Even if I wasn't claimed, there was no denying I was definitely a demigod, and whoever my mother was, I'd be proud to have someone with a kind heart. And besides, a low chance was better than no chance at all.

"Well, whatever," I said, keeping my smile. Lou Ellen smiled too, seeing that we should move on. She began explaining things like the Mist, and how it would cloak what had happened back at the school to something that would be completely understandable by humans. That would at least help with the whole hydra problem, but not with our disappearance. But I smiled on, thoughts of being claimed running through my mind.

I guess I got lost in thought as I found myself walking off on my own. Audrey might have called to me, but I guess I missed that too. Next thing I knew, I was hit in the side of the head with something small but with a lot of force. That knocked me out of my thoughts, and I looked to find an arrow on the ground lying next to me. I rubbed my head, but it looked like it hadn't cut me, only whacked me.

"Hey, are you okay?!" Someone called, running up. A kid with a bow and quiver ran up to see me, and I picked up his arrow.

"Is this yours?" I asked before holding it out. "Here you go. I'm sorry if I got in the way of your archery." He looked to me in shock before taking the arrow.

"Are you hurt? Where'd it hit you?"

"Just in the head, but no damage. Thank you for your concern though." I smiled, but his look of confusion didn't fade.

"Hit you in the head…? Dead on?"

"Well, yes," I said, seeing no problem.

"T-These can go straight through someone. We've had the Hephaestus kids modify our weapons…to penetrate armor."

"Oh, well I'm sorry. I got lost in thought and wandered off. I didn't know I was in your training grounds."

"Are you…like invincible or something?"

"Not that I know of." He nodded slowly, taking in the situation as though it was hard to comprehend yet it was right there in front of him.

"Hm. Okay…I guess…I guess I'll have these checked out by Cabin Nine."

"I'm looking for someone named Lou Ellen," I said quickly, hoping he'd give me directions.

"Well, she stays in Cabin Twenty as a daughter of Hecate. It's the one on the end over that way." He pointed and I nodded in thanks. Of course, Lou Ellen would most likely not be there, but now that I knew that was Cabin Twenty, I could try and assume where the other cabins were. It could either be a complete semicircle number wise, but considering the two fancier cabins on one end were most likely Zeus and Hera, one of the the few gods that I actually knew of, I'd guess that the cabins went left to right number wise, so the one on the left was three, then the one on the right across from it in the U shape was four, etc.

Each of the Cabins had distinct features, so maybe I could find one that related to Poseidon and go there to wait for Audrey. Logic dictated that since Poseidon was Zeus's brother that he'd be close to the big fancy cabins on the end, so I started there. I walked up to a cabin, but it looked to be more of an agricultural, covered in flowers, tomato plants on the doorway, wild flowers and roses on the porch, and a real glass roof. It couldn't be Poseidon's; that would be a stretch at best. I headed to the opposing cabin and smiled at my success.

It was long, low building with windows facing the ocean, made from rough sea stone, pieces of coral and seashell embedded into the outside walls, and a trident with a big bronze number 3 over the door. Even from outside I could smell a good sea breeze from it, and I knew this was Poseidon. I headed inside, planning to wait for Audrey to come back. Inside, the walls were made of abalone, there were six neat bunk beds with silk sheets and a salt water fountain that was made out of gray sea rocks with a dish spouting water from its mouth. This place was amazing, and I wondered what the others cabins looked like with their respective differences.

It was so tranquil here, and I walked over to sit next to the fountain, finding some golden coins inside. They looked fancy, but also old and seemed to be Greek based on the faces on them, not surprising, considering this was a Greek camp with Greek gods instead of Roman. I stared at the waters, hoping my mother would tell me who I was soon.

I ended up falling asleep next to the sound of the fountain lulling me to sleep, but when I woke up, I realized I was glowing. Glowing  _pink_. I stood to realize I was wearing a dress, one fancier than anything I'd  _ever_  owned in my one and a half decades of life. It was a simple yet beautiful white sleeveless gown that went all the way down to my ankles, with a V-neck a little too low for comfort. I now had gold arm bands around my biceps, an intricate necklace of amber, coral and gold flowers hanging on my chest, and my short, light brown hair was fuller, wavy, and surprisingly soft. I looked at my reflection in the fountain and saw I had just the slightest bit of makeup, not enough to be overblown like that Drew girl from before, but subtle adjustments that I'd never imagined on my face, yet it actually looked good. There was something I could feel on my lips, but it was the same color as my normal lips yet still made them look different, in a good way.

Lou Ellen had told me a transformation like this happened to Aphrodite kids, not Hestia! I still didn't know much about gods, but I did know Aphrodite was a goddess of love and beauty. I couldn't have been her daughter! Sure, I wasn't bad looking, especially at the moment, but I was nothing like that Drew, who was no doubt an Aphrodite kid with her appearance.

"You're right," Someone said behind me. I turned to see Zyanya standing at the other end of the room, leaning against the wall. "You aren't Drew, but you are someone with a kind heart, Emily." Had she just read my thoughts? Well, I guess I'd seen weirder from her today.

"But…"

"Hestia cannot have a daughter, and no one could know if she did. You are a daughter of Aphrodite to the world, understand?"

"To the world…?" I asked, noticing her word choice.

"To the world, to Hestia, and to everyone else. No one can know Hestia has a daughter, and so as far as we're all concerned, she doesn't. Understand?" I nodded. I  _was_  a daughter of Hestia. The thought made me jump for joy, even if I couldn't tell others. The secret felt dangerous, and I never did dangerous, but it also felt good, to know that I held something no one else could steal, a secret of my parentage that could only be mine.

"How was I claimed by Aphrodite though?" I asked.

"Just a favor I asked of her. Love she understands, and she knows that Hestia cares enough for you and herself that she'll help keep your identity a secret. Just think of it like she's adopting you."

"Wait, so what are my powers? I'm kind like Hestia, but is that enough to fit in as an Aphrodite child?"

"Kindness is a good thing, and it may be useful in the Aphrodite cabin these days, but that's not your only trait."

"It isn't?"

"Haven't you noticed?" She walked up and took out a dagger. I feared what she planned to do, but she was still a friend I've known for a while, and even after her change, she didn't seem hostile. She took my hand and slowly pressed the knife down on my finger. I felt the pressure, but oddly enough, I couldn't feel when the knife cut through. She pressed harder, but still, no blood came out. Then she raised the knife and struck it down upon my wrist before I could realized what she was doing. I jump back and reached for my wrist with my other hand, but then I quickly realized that it was unharmed.

"What the…?" Zyanya held up the knife to show it was bent out of shape. Zyanya was definitely strong, considering what I saw when she fought the hydra, but that knife looked like any other combat knife except it had given in to her inhuman strength. But the way it was bent…It hit me, but I still had trouble believing it. She had bent the knife…in striking me.

"You, Emily, daughter of Hestia, are invincible."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Emily is a daughter of Hestia, but now known as a daughter of Aphrodite. She'll be playing a part in the first quest, but next time, it's Zytaveon's turn to be claimed (and have a wardrobe change that he will not be happy about.)


	5. Prophecies and Problems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the length of this chapter, but there was a lot of explanations that we needed to get out of the way. Please enjoy. :)

First Person: Zytaveon

Okay, so Audrey and Emily were both claimed this afternoon. Emily was one thing, and I guess I can understand the whole Aphrodite thing, but apparently Audrey was claimed while she was over at the lake with her tour guide, Lou Ellen. She told me that a green trident appeared above her head like with that kid Leo and his hammer, but after that, there wasn't much to say. Emily had completely changed outfits and now looked like she was the classic Greek goddess you'd see in the pictures. Zyanya said she'd found Emily panicking over what had happened while she was waiting for Audrey in the Poseidon Cabin while I was talking with Audrey.

"So if you got claimed, that means I still have to be officially claimed by my dad too?" I realized aloud while Zyanya was off getting Emily. I was sitting by the lake on the docks next to her, and she was tracing her finger across the water.

"I guess so," She said, a smile creeping to her face.

"What are you smiling about?"

"Oh, nothing." I scowled, but she just smiled and didn't budge no matter how much I poked and prodded her. Emily had the same smile when I saw her again, like they both knew something I didn't. And that was scary, coming from the friends that knew me so well. I guess it'd be worse if they were boys, because boys would be the ones that use their knowledge to their advantage and make a bad situation worse, but the girls would at least let things happen instead of interfering in a negative way.

The three of us now sat outside the training field, seeing the Apollo kids shooting perfect, no rim, three pointers on a basketball court. They were sharp with arrows and basketballs, apparently. The two ladies had gone to see Chiron earlier, as they had been claimed, having a meeting with him along with that new blond haired kid, and Emily was explaining what happened.

"So that girl with the brown hair's name is Piper McLean, and the blonde haired boy is Jason," Emily explained. Good to finally know our fellow newbie demigods' names. "Jason doesn't know his last name thanks to amnesia, but Leo's last name is Valdez. Jason knows Latin, too, even though Greeks have a hard time with Latin, and he was named after some other Jason."

"There was something about winning a Titan war and saving Olympus too," Audrey said. "Things are happening and they are only going to get worse, and yeah. There's some law that Jason's presence here is breaking, but Chiron swore on the River of Sticks or something never do something, and he can't even mention it."

"I think it's the River Styx," I said. "The whole underworld think where if you swear by it and break your promise you'll be dragged to the underworld or some dark place where your soul suffers for eternity. At least, I think."

"Anyway, so Chiron's going on about who could've brought Jason here, when suddenly he's, Jason, is standing up with a sword drawn. Like, literally, he was sitting and then I blinked and he was standing. He said something about the living lion head on the wall eating a goddess before explaining that time had stopped and some misty figure had told him she was her patron and that she needed to be freed before the solstice."

"Before Chiron could explain, though, this red head, Annabeth and Piper came in, but Piper had been injured," Emily continued. "She'd passed out and was pale, and the red head said she may have killed her. They were in Hera's cabin, Piper and Annabeth came in. They talked, but then the red haired girl became possessed and told them to free her from her prison. She said she was an oracle, but this wasn't a prophecy, she was sure of it."

"A second time," I muttered.

"Oh, her name was Rachel," Audrey realized. "The red head. She said that the voice was Hera. She's been trying to break through her prison for months. Chiron said her destruction could shake apart the foundations of the world and unravel the stability of Olympus, but then he left, said he couldn't help anymore. He did leave Annabeth in charge of telling Jason and us about Greek and Roman gods. Annabeth questioned Jason's sword, and said Chiron had never acted like this before, keeping things from her, before taking Jason to Cabin Fifteen."

"Rachel said she'd watch over Piper, and we came out here to talk to you."

"Why didn't I get to see Chiron too?" I grumbled. "Maybe I haven't been  _officially_  claimed like you two, but I know my dad and I should get in on the explanation to what's going on too. Why did I have to miss out on all the cool stuff?"

"Here," Someone suddenly said. The hilt of a sword was shoved in front of me and I looked up to see Zyanya holding a sleek pure black sword, her hand around the blade though she was unhurt. The hilt was golden, the sword straight and three feet long, maybe two inches wide, double edged, and just like that Nico kid's sword. I took the sword and found it to be hefty, but in a good way. It was light enough that I could swing it accurately, but heavy enough that I could us its weight to put extra power into a swing. I felt a weird yet comforting vibe from it. It was similar to Nico's sword in that aspect as well, but it felt more comfortable, like I'd grown up using this sword all my life. Zyanya handed Audrey a blue-green sword with a similar make up and then passed Emily a golden dagger, then passing out sheaths for each as well in their respective colors.

"I stopped by the armory," She explained. "Piper and Annabeth were there too, getting Piper a dagger that once belonged to Helen of Troy. It can even show visions of the future to those it finds worthy. In any case, I figured you all could use some weapons. Here. Defense is just as important as offense." She handed us each a cuff, (in our respective colors once more) that were about half the size of our forearms and we snapped them on our left forearms, centering them. She pressed something on mine and suddenly a black rod shot out before circling around to create a shield.

"Whoa, nice." She clicked the cuff again and the process repeated but in reverse.

"A little training and you'll be prepared for anything with these. You've fought monsters before, but I assure you, things will only get worse from here on out." I then remembered that my dad had told me to go on a journey to save Hera and find Thanatos. She knew that too, and she was preparing me for the trip. But Audrey and Emily as well? I mean, I guess they did need to learn to fight too, as they were now stuck in the life of a demigod for good.

All of us had been explained the makings of the camp by now, told about which cabin belonged to which gods. There were first twelve Olympian gods, males on the left, females on the right, but they added more recently, including the Hades one. Zeus and Hera were obviously the big ones down the line, but they were very quiet and empty.

Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, the oldest brothers among the gods, didn't have many children, apparently, and when they did, they were very powerful, and very dangerous. They've tried to avoid having children within recent times, but they clearly failed in that aspect. There was me and Nico, sons of Hades, Audrey (and apparently this missing Percy) children of Poseidon, and a girl named Thalia Grace who was a daughter of Zeus, but she was now an immortal Hunter of Artemis.

Hera didn't have children with anyone but Zeus, so no demigods. Her cabin was mostly a shrine, really, but apparently, Annabeth didn't like her much. The gods could be a bit stuck up at times, especially the high and mighty ones, but I've learned to live with it.

"Listen up," Zyanya said. "Here's a recap. The gods have recently become quieter, communicating less and less, and now they are completely cut off. It's not rare for them to be silent when it comes to humans, but they've closed off the entrance to Olympus itself. In the past, demigods have been able to go up there, but now they're complete locked away. Even this camp's director, Dionysus, was recalled. Demigods still get claimed, but that's it. No messages, no visits, no sign that the gods are even listening. Rachel Dare, the oracle here that you'd met, was investigating Hera's place before what happened to Piper occurred. Annabeth and Hera aren't exactly friends, but recently Annabeth was contacted by Hera and told to go out and find a guy with one shoe, who, after a battle, turned out to be Jason. I assume Annabeth took him to Cabin Fifteen, the Hypnos cabin, to try and recover his memories. Memories can tend to be buried deep down when they're forgotten, but a deep enough sleep can recover them. The question remains whether his memories have been suppressed or literally stolen."

"So someone stole his memories and plopped him here?" I asked.

"Hera. It seems doing so was a part of her plan to save the gods and stop havoc. If Jason's memories can't be recovered by going to the Hypnos cabin, then Hera has indeed stolen his memories, using them as a sort of bargaining chip to have her rescued."

"So what's the plan with all this information?"

"Why, a quest to save Hera, of course. Chiron wasn't lying when he said her death will cause destruction beyond repair, and I fear what that will mean for the times. As the Percy has gone missing, it is entirely possible that he is in the same position as Jason, wandering about somewhere with no memories of whom he is. The camp shall discuss more details tonight at the fire, and hopefully, you will be claimed by your father officially, along with Piper."

"Why hasn't he claimed me yet?" I asked. She shrugged and smiled the same smile Audrey and Emily had, she knew something I didn't. It was like the smile Hades had given me, I realized, meaning something bad was gonna happen, and they were gonna enjoy watching. I huffed. Everyone around me was a psychopath, I swear.

We went to the dining hall for dinner, and afterwards a horn sounded for the campfire. Emily apparently had to stay in her new dress to be introduced as the newest Aphrodite member, and though she didn't  _hate_  the dress, it was a bit uncomfortable for her, especially considering she'd lost her previous outfit, the only one she had brought since we'd come here during the middle of school and didn't exactly pack for vacation.

Everyone was sitting around the fire by the time we arrived, most of the kids sitting with their siblings under a banner with their parent's symbol. Standing in front of the fire , half a dozen campers had guitars and lyres(?) and were jumping around, leading a song about pieces of armor, something about how their grandma got dressed for war. Everyone was singing, and some even made gestures for the pieces of armor, joking around and having fun.

I wasn't exactly antisocial, but during big events and parties I usually preferred to sit in the back, in the shadows, and stay away. It was just an impulse, I got tired of having to constantly smile at people, laugh, and do a bunch of random things with them. I liked sitting back, relaxing while people minded their own business around me. I liked getting lost in thought and not having to worry about dealing with other people. I could deal with things sometimes, but after the day I've had, I just wanted to go to that Hades cabin and collapse on the bed to sleep.

It's not like there was a Hades banner to sit under, as Nico seemed to be the only child of Hades besides me, as had been explained before. Audrey would be alone as a daughter of Poseidon, and Em didn't exactly feel comfortable joining her cabin mates, as they were whispering gossip and laughing like the bully girls from school. She couldn't just walk over to them and instantly be accepted, since she wasn't like them personality wise.

I saw Zyanya sitting at the front with Annabeth and Jason, and she turned to wave us over. I smiled, happy that she'd thought of our situation. We joined her in the front and she smiled as the energy around us grew as their funny song progressed. It was seriously the weirdest group of people I'd ever met, and I had been in high school for three years, but in a way they felt like family. All of them had different skills, different traits that made them unique, and it was kinda nice to see their personalities all compared against each other. They were hilarious, weird, different, but that was what I liked about them all. Maybe I could get used to this whole demigod thing.

"You seem happy," Zyanya said. "Campfires are weird, but they're nice, you know?" I nodded, noticing how the fire in front of her illuminated only half her face while she was turned to me, leaving shadows that accentuated her features.

"Yeah." I stared at her and realized there were many questions I had yet to ask her. "I need to know. Was Lucy a real person, or was she just a lie?" She looked back to the fire.

"She  _was_  a real person."

"Is she dead?"

"No, just…sleeping."

"Who exactly are you? Your powers, your mom?" She gave a half smile, but one deep in thought.

"The goddess of power itself."

"Huh?" Before she could answer, the song came to an end and everyone cheered extra loud with applause, a random whistle here and there. Then, Chiron walked up (I was still getting used to the fact that he was a centaur) and brandished a spear impaled with marshmallows. It was hard to tell if I should take him seriously or not.

"Very nice!" He announced. "A special welcome to our new arrivals. I am Chiron, our camp activities director, and I'm happy to see you all here with most of your limbs attached. We shall get to the s'mores in a moment, but first-"

"What about capture the flag?!" A kid called. Capture the flag in a camp where everyone has powers and fighting prowess? Sounds like a party. There were mumbles of agreement and some grumbles from some kids in armor, sitting under a red banner with the emblem of a board's head. If memory served, that was the symbol of Ares.

"Yes, I know your cabin is anxious to return to the woods for our regular games," Chiron said.

"And kill people!" Somebody shouted. Yep, Ares kids. I knew Ares had some…issues, but his kids were nearly as bad as Nike's children, the goddess of victory. As you can imagine, those guys  _hate_  losing  _anything_. Not just sports and such, or even just a rock, paper, scissors match, oh no. They always needed to win an argument, have the last laugh, and never allowed anyone to be better than them. Put them and the Ares kids on the same team, and you're doomed.

"However that won't be possible until the dragon is brought under control," Chiron continued.

"A dragon?" Emily muttered. "Oh, poor thing…"

"Cabin Nine, anything to report?" We all looked to the Hephaestus kids, with the guy Leo shooting Piper with a finger gun like, "Hey." The girl next to Leo stood, wearing an army jacket a lot like Leo's with her hair covered in a red bandana. She looked nervous, and clearly she was uncomfortable being the spokes person, so there must've been bad news.

"We're working on it," She said quickly, getting it over with. There was muttering about the cabin mates, and clearly this dragon was a problem.

"How, Nyssa?!" An Ares kid demanded.

"Really hard," The girl replied. She sat down to a lot of yelling and complaining, and the fire sputtered chaotically. Suddenly, sitting in the front didn't feel like such a good idea as I was blinded by it. Chiron stamped his hoof against the fire pit stones three times and with three bangs there was silence. Clearly he was a man to be taken seriously when he needed to be.

"We have to be patient," He announced. "In the mean time, there are more pressing matters to be discussed.

"Percy?" Someone asked, and the flames of the fire dimmed with the crowd's nervousness and anxiety. Annabeth took a deep breath before standing.

"I didn't find Percy," She announced, and her voice caught slightly when she said his name. "He wasn't at the Grand Canyon, but we're not giving up. We've got teams everywhere: Grover, Tyson, Nico, and The Hunters of Artemis - everyone is looking. We are  _going_  to find him. Chiron's talking about something different. A new quest."

"It's the Great Prophecy, isn't it?" A girl called out. Everyone turned to the voice to find it came from a girl sitting under a rose-colored banner with a dove emblem. The children of Aphrodite had been talking amongst themselves, not really paying attention until their leader stood up: Drew. Everyone looked surprised, so I guess she didn't address a crowd often.

"What do you mean, Drew?" Annabeth asked.

"Well,  _come on_ ," She said, spreading her arms for emphasis. "Percy is missing, Olympus is closed. Hera sends you a vision and you come back with these three new demigods in one day of searching, and Nico shows up with three more, one of them a son of Hades and the other a daughter of Poseidon. Coincidence much? Something weird is going on. The Great Prophecy has started, right?" Everyone looked to Rachel now. "Well? You are the oracle, Rachel. Has is begun or not?" Rachel seemed to darken, her eyes scary in the firelight, but she stepped forward and calmly addressed the camp.

"Yes, The Great Prophecy has started." That's when pandemonium broke out and I began to hate campfire groups again. When things finally calmed down, Rachel took another step towards the crowd, and all fifty plus demigods leaned away from her, as though she was more intimidating than all of them put together. I liked her. I listened carefully, Emily, Audrey, Jason, Piper and Leo doing the same, as we had no idea what she was talking about.

"For all of those who have not heard of it, the Great Prophecy was my first prediction that arrived in August. " _Seven half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire the world must fall-_ " But she was interrupted as Jason shot to his feet, eyes wide. "Jason? What's-?"

" _Ut cum spiritu postrema sacramentum dejuremus. Et hostes ornamenta addent ad ianuam necem_." He recited in Latin. An uneasy silence settled upon the campfire, and I could see most people were trying to translate the words. I was barely fluent in Spanish (just look at my grades in school), let alone Latin. Heck, I even failed at English sometimes, but somehow my brain worked to realize what he'd said.

" _An oath to keep with a final breath. And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death,_ " I recited before I realized I'd said it aloud. Now everyone's eyes were trained on me, and Rachel was looking between the two of us.

"You…You just finished the prophecy…" She stuttered. "H-How did you-?"

"I know those lines…" Jason muttered, putting his hands to his temples. I guess he  _hadn't_  gotten his memory back, meaning they  _had_  been stolen by Hera. "I don't know how, but I  _know_  that prophecy."

"In Latin, no less," Drew said and I'd almost forgotten about her. "Handsome  _and_  smart." There was giggling from the Aphrodite cabin. What a bunch of weirdos, I thought to myself. Emily may have been a daughter of Aphrodite, but she was nothing like them. Hopefully she could change them while she was over there before they changed her. If she turned into one of those giggling losers, I swear…

Of course, they didn't do much to break the tension, and the campfire burned a nervous and chaotic shade of green, one that I oddly found nice. Jason sat down, embarrassed, and I turned back towards the campfire, hoping to get the conversation moving again. Rachel looked to Chiron, but he stood silent and still, as if he were watching a play and didn't want to interrupt. It was a face that came with a tragedy where someone dies and nothing can be done. I'd seen it enough when I began to pay more attention to death as high school started, along with my powers.

"Well…" Rachel said, regaining her composure as best she could. "Yes, that's the Great Prophecy. We'd hoped it would happen for years, but I fear it's beginning now. I have no proof, it's just a feeling. The seven demigods, whoever they are, haven't been gathered yet. I get the feeling some are here tonight, some aren't." The kids once again muttered amongst themselves while I lost myself in my own thoughts.

Hades said I was to go on this quest to save Hera and check up on Thanatos, but did that mean I was a part of this prophecy? Not to mention my brain randomly translating Latin. Foes bearing arms at the Doors of Death…Hades has subtly mentioned the doors opening and allowing the creatures of the pit to return. If the gods had gone silent, and Hades had still tried to reach me, then this means he was serious, and he needed my help to fix this problem with death. With my random ability to translate Latin, I began to believe him when he said I had power none of us knew about. If I could randomly learn a language without trying, what other hidden talents might I hold?

"Here!" A drowsy voice called out. "Oh…were you taking roll?"

"Go back to sleep, Clovis!" Someone yelled and a lot of people laughed. Hypnos cabin, no doubt. Those guys were lucky. They had an excuse to sleep all day every day, without having all those health concern issues.

"Anyway, we don't fully understand what the Great Prophecy means, or what challenge the demigods will face," Rachel continued. "Considering the last Great Prophecy led to the Titan War, we can assume this one will bring something at least that bad."

"Or worse," Chiron muttered. He must not have meant for anyone to hear, but they did anyway and the campfire turned a dark purple, which was also strangely comforting to me.

"What we  _do_  know, is that the first phase has begun," Rachel said. "A major problem has arisen, and we need a quest to solve. Hera, the queen of the gods, has been taken." There was silence before fifty half-bloods started talking all at once. Chiron pounded his hoof for order, but it still took a moment before Rachel could speak again.

She told us of how Jason, Piper and Leo came to come here, a storm spirit disguising himself as a kid and attacking them. Gleeson Hedge, a satyr (a man that's half goat) had sacrificed himself when the storm spirits attacked, and they had said this was only the beginning, that they served some great mistress that would destroy all demigods. She moved to explain Piper's vision and fainting, getting a message from Hera, and then Jason's encounter as well.

"Jason…um, do you remember your last name?" Rachel asked. He looked self conscious, but shook his head. "Then we'll just settle with Jason. It's clear Hera herself has issued you a request." She paused, as if asking him if he agreed. He stood tall and brave, despite the eyes on him, and nodded.

"I agree."

"You must save Hera to prevent a great evil, some sort of king rising. For reasons also unknown, you must do it by the solstice in four days."

"The council day of the gods," Annabeth explained. "If the gods don't  _already_  know Hera's gone, they'll definitely notice her absence by then."

"They'll probably break into arguments, accusing each other of taking her," I said. "Even Hestia may not be able to keep them under control with all the tension."

"Hestia?" Emily instantly asked.

"A goddess who's calm and tranquil. Usually, the gods don't get into fights while in her presence, and she's gained the affection of all the gods, even ones like Ares. But now, who knows if she'll be able to keep peace?"

"The winter solstice is also a time of great darkness," Chiron said. "The gods gather that day, as humans have, because there is strength in numbers. The solstice is a day when evil magic is strong,  _ancient_ magic older than the gods. The day when things…stir." He said it so sinister, it made me tremble, and I didn't tremble to the thought of darkness very often.

"Okay, thanks for that, Captain Sunshine," Annabeth said, glaring at him. "I agree with Rachel, whatever's going on. Jason has been chosen to lead this quest, so-"

"Then why hasn't he been claimed yet?!" Someone from the Ares cabin called. "If he's so special-"

"He has been claimed," Chiron announced. "Long ago. Jason, please give them a demonstration." He looked confused at first before he looked to Piper and she mimicked flipping a coin. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin, tossing it into the air. It flashed mid flight and when he caught it, he was holding a seven foot gold lance with a spear tip at the end. While Zeus had a lightning bolt, Poseidon had a trident, Hades had been depicted with a spear, and so I wished I had one now, only midnight black. The other demigods gasped, Rachel and Annabeth having to take a step back to avoid the deadly point.

"I thought…didn't you have a sword?" Annabeth asked.

"Must've come up with tails," Jason muttered. "Same coin, long-range weapon form."

"Dude, I want one!" Someone from the Ares cabin called and I had to agree, it was cool.

"Better then Clarisse's electric spear, Lamer!" One of his brothers agreed.

"Electric…" Jason murmured. "Back up." Annabeth and Rachel did so as he raised his lance to the sky. Thunder crashed and then a lightning bolt arced down through the golden spear and then hit the golden campfire with the force of an artillery shell.

"Look out!" Emily called, rushing forward and shoving Annabeth and Rachel farther back, as they hadn't gotten clear of the blast zone, not expecting it to be so big.

"Emily!" I shouted, but this was a lightning bolt we were talking about, and once she was moving, there wasn't anything I could do to stop her or even go after her before the lightning struck. When the smoke cleared, and the ringing in my ears dimmed enough that I could hear things again (sort of) the entire camp was frozen in shock, half blind, covered in ashes and staring at where the fire had been. Cinders rained down around us, a burning log impaled a few inches from the sleeping kid Clovis who hadn't even stirred. Sometimes you could wake those kids, sometimes you couldn't.

I hurried over to find Emily lying near where the fire had been, her dress now ruined and turned black from both as and being struck by a stray bolt from the larger one, but even that would've been enough to stop her heart. Everyone stared at her, Rachel and Annabeth okay as she had shoved them at least ten feet away. We were worried she was dead, the camp silent and staring at her, but before I could even kneel down to her, she grunted and pulled herself to her knees, leaning on her arms.

"Aw man, I was just beginning to like this dress," She said. I sighed before smiling and laughing, falling to sit next to her.

"We'll get ya a new one," I promised. She shook her hair, ash sprinkling out, but then revealed her makeup was still intact, completely untouched. The gift of Aphrodite, I guess. She adjusted her glasses and then smiled, completely fine. The crowd of half-bloods breathed as well, them all having held their breath.

"Uh…sorry," Jason said, lowering his lands and rubbing his head in embarrassment.

"No worries," Emily said, trying to make sure no crucial parts of her dress were burnt beyond repair and falling apart. "I might have to get some stronger clothes…" Chiron brushed some burning coals out of his beard, looking like his worst fears had been confirmed.

"A little overkill perhaps, but I believe you've made your point. I think I know who your father is."

"Jupiter," Jason said. "I mean Zeus," He corrected. "Lord of the Sky." Apparently the camp couldn't believe a son of "The Big Three" could be here so easily. Then again, they didn't know about me either. All they had was my word to go on that I was a son of Hades, and I wasn't even claimed yet.

"Hold on!" Annabeth shouted. "How can he be a son of Zeus?! The pact not to have mortal kids…! How could we have not known about him sooner?"

"Well you didn't know about me or Audrey," I muttered, but like Chiron before, I hadn't meant for them to hear me yet they all did and everyone's eyes went to me. I hadn't exactly announced to the world I was a son of Hades yet, and only Chiron, Audrey, Emily and Zyanya actually knew which of the Three my dad was.

"What do you mean…was it Veon?" Annabeth asked. I nodded and stood.

"Audrey's has been claimed as a daughter of Poseidon, and I'm a son of Hades. It seems this pact has been broken often." Though the fire was gone and the evening was darker, I could see the shifting of the kids as they muttered amongst themselves once more, and my vision began to adjust to the dark. I liked the darkness, I felt a tingle from it that comforted me as I realized I had all eyes on me once more.

"Are you certain?" Annabeth asked. "People can tend to assume who their godly parent is based on their powers, but they can be wrong, and they are a good deal of the time."

"Hades has  _told_  me I'm his son. I've met him, and a good deal of the other gods, before."

"Has he claimed you yet?" Someone asked.

"I'm…not sure," I admitted. "I'm not sure how this claiming thing works, so if I've been claimed, I didn't really know that was claiming at the time."

"Trust me, you'd know," Zyanya said. All eyes began to shift to her now, but then Rachel swooned and got everyone's attention. Two campers rushed forward to catch her, a third running to the side of the amphitheater to grab a bronze three legged stool. I guess this happened a lot; these guys seemed trained to do this. They eased Rachel in front of the hearth, and though it was dark, we could see green mist swirling around Rachel's feet. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing, and emerald smoke issued from her mouth. The voice that came out was raspy and ancient, like a talking snake but a little more articulate (and yes, I knew what that sounded like and you do  _not_  want to know.)

" _Child of lightning, beware the earth. The giants' revenge the seven shall birth. The forge and the dove shall break the cage. And death unleash through Hera's rage._ " That was the end of Rachel's prophecy, but as I tried to focus on what the words meant, the green smoke around Rachel crept up to me and suddenly I saw light and tensed as words poured out of my mouth in a deep male voice, but it seemed to be made of numerous voices saying the same thing together, like choir class.

" _Child of Hades, Beware the pit. Should you fall, you will be one with it. Live in darkness, feel their pain. Know all you do will be in vain. The dead shall scream, the living shall fall, until you hear the final call._ " And then I felt the mist slowly seeping out of me and the cold seeping in, but unlike the green mist, this didn't feel as alien. It crept up from the ground, enveloping my body, and while it burned my skin, it also felt…comforting, empowering. When the feeling reached my head, a veil of darkness covered my vision and I let the cool soak into my skin. I inhaled a deep breath that felt refreshing, in a son of Hades kind of way (meaning it felt like sweet, sweet death) and opened my eyes to find I was glowing with a silver aura. In front of me was a lance, black as the darkest night, sharper and deadly than I'd ever seen. I placed my hand on it, and I felt another surge of that power, and it tasted delicious.

I knew everyone's eyes were on me, taking in what I'd said, what had just happened to me, what I was doing now, but at the moment I felt drunk on the feeling of death seeping into my bones, in a good way, of course. I felt the rush wearing off, but then I finally realized what had happened to me. I was wearing a black toga, numerous colored gems on my shoulders holding it up. On my arms and wrists were golden cuffs, also adorned with gems of many colors and sizes. On my feet were sandals (also black, of course) and if you knew me, you'd know I  _never_  wore sandals and despised them. One of the worst things though, was a silver circlet on my head, a skull in the center and two skeleton hands making up the front of the band and branches with thorns making up the rest. The thorns weren't hurting me, and the skull was kinda cool looking, but what I hated most, was that I knew  _exactly_  was Audrey was going to say about it, no matter what Emily said to stop her.

My face darkened as I saw her hand on her mouth as she snickered, Emily's on her mouth because she was smiling, and Zyanya just flat out smirking at me. Sometimes, I really hated my friends. But most of all, I now  _really_  hated my dad. He must know how to claim his kid, and he waited until the entirety of Camp Half-Blood was watching to do this to me. I clenched the lance in my hand before shouting loud enough that I'm sure my father heard me all the way in the underworld.

" ** _HADES!_** "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now Veon's been claimed, gaining that lance he wanted and some new power, but what's that prophecy about? Please review and give me suggestions, requests, questions and concerns. I appreciate all feedback, good and bad.


	6. Slipping Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A special shout out to my friend amalspach, who gave me great inspiration for this chapter, gave Audrey a story, and basically started this whole FanFic in the first place.

First Person: Audrey

" _Audrey: Monster Hunting since age 8. I'm kind of used to it._ " That was the day I'd learned I wasn't as alone as I thought I was. I had been friends with Emily, Lucy and Veon for a while before then, but once I learned they were demigods like me, our bond grew ever closer. Maybe Veon hadn't learned about us girls being demigods until yesterday, but it's not like our bond grew any weaker because of it. He was a guy who liked choir class, who hung out with a trio of girls instead of guys, who wore  _literally_  the same outfit every day no matter what the weather (a black T-shirt, jeans, black combat boots and an army green jacket) and who basically made me die from laughter when I finally saw him in something else.

Of course, he basically made me deaf when he shouted at his father for doing this to him, and that on top of the ringing in my ears from the lightning bolt earlier made my head spin, but it was  _so_  worth it to see him like that. Now, let's get this straight. I do  _not_  like him in  _any_  romantic way what-so-ever. I always shipped him with Lucy back when we were in high school, and even with her personality change, he still looks infatuated with her. I mean, come on, he stares at her more than he cares to admit, even to himself, and always smiles a certain way when she's around. Granted, I'm not even sure either of them realize it yet.

It was just hilarious to see him look so embarrassed, and there were  _so_  many things I could make fun of, the list instantly running through my head. I think he even woke a kid from the Hypnos cabin with that scream, even if it was short, it was piercing and echoed around us, making a couple dozen birds take flight. He huffed and walked over, sitting between Emily and Zyanya. I was on the opposing side of Emily, so I withdrew my comments for now.

"I swear, if he weren't already a death god, I'd kill him," Veon muttered.

"Come on, you don't look  _that_  bad, kid," Zy said.

"You were claimed!" Emily said. "And you got that cool lance." He seemed to calm down from Emily's words, and I no longer felt the need to insult him anymore. There was always a calming tone from Emily that defused any emotions except calmness, happiness and such, but I guess it was just an Aphrodite thing.

"What were those prophecy things?" I asked, now more interested in getting the attention off of Veon then getting more onto him. Emily was seriously rubbing off on me, and her being claimed seems to have only increased the effect. "They didn't exactly sound comforting."

"You're right," Annabeth said. "Something about the prophecies were definitely not normal. For the first, if breaking Hera's cage unleashes her rage and causes and bunch of death, then why would we want to free her? It might be a trap, or - or maybe Hera will turn on her rescuers. She's never been kind to heroes."

"I don't have much choice," Jason said. "Hera took my memories, and it looks like freeing her is the only way to get them back. Besides, we can't just " _not_ " help the queen of the gods if she's in trouble."

"He's right," Veon said, now gaining his confidence back. "Remember the havoc that would erupt if Hera is destroyed. Maybe it's because of my parentage, but I'm not afraid of death. Better I die then let the rest of the world go down too. Besides, it's possible the death she unleashes is upon our enemies, not us."

"But we should at least listen to Annabeth," The girl from Cabin Nine with the red bandana, Nyssa, said. "Hera can be vengeful. She threw her own son - our dad - down a mountain just because he was ugly."

" _Real_  ugly," Someone from the Aphrodite cabin snickered.

"Shut up!" Nyssa growled. "Anyway, we also have to think about who we're fighting here. I mean who's strong enough to kidnap the queen of the heavens? And why fear the earth? And what's the giants' revenge?"

"You'd be surprised how easy it is to capture a god," Zyanya said. "Once you've captured them, there's no way for them to escape of their own will. Hephaestus once captured Hera for tossing her down that mountain and made her apologize, you know." There was murmur in the Hephaestus group about that, and I could tell that gave them a new look on life. "We're clearly not going to find any answers by just sitting here brainstorming. Jason shall be sent on this quest, as he is clearly the child of lightning, and as per tradition, he shall choose two companions to accompany him."

"Annabeth, obviously," Someone from the Hermes cabin called. "She's got the most experience."

"No, Travis," Annabeth said. "First off, I am  _not_  helping Hera. Every time I have, she deceives me or it comes back to haunt me later. No way. Uh-uh. Forget it. Second, I'm leaving first thing in the morning to find Percy."

"It's connected!" Piper blurted. "The prophecy, all this business, your boyfriends disappearance, it's all connected!"

"How?" Drew demanded. "If you're so smart then tell us: How?" Piper looked like she was thinking, but came up with no response.

"Well there has to be some connection to why Hera took Jason's memories in the first place," I said, standing. I wasn't gonna let that bully pull one over on Piper. I barely knew the girl, but I could tell she was a nice person, and she was Emily's half sister for crying out loud. "This prophecy is unfolding right before us. Think of it. Wherever Jason's from, his friends and family are probably wondering where he is and are worried sick because they can't find him. What are the odds that the same thing happened to Percy? His memories erased and stuck in a whole new part of the world where he has no idea what's going on, therefore he hasn't come back to Camp Half-Blood. Not to mention that whatever we're facing here predicts the "Giant's revenge" and maybe I've never seen a giant in real life before, but I know that they and the gods aren't exactly BFFs. Hera has answers to this, and may be able to connect more of the dots, but one way or another, all of this information boils down to one thing: trouble is coming, and even the gods need help sometimes."

"They're stubborn, prideful, hate asking for help, but in the end, they're not omnipotent," Veon said. "Audrey's right. Maybe we can't connect all the dots here and now, but if it were that easy we'd be out of the job. We get answers from Hera. Besides, the prophecy says that Annabeth  _can't_  go. It said " _The forge and dove shall break the cage_ ," and I'd say the forge is Hephaestus ."

"If you have to beware the earth, you should avoid traveling over land," Nyssa said, her shoulders slumping like she was now carrying a weight. "They flying chariot is broken, and the pegasi are being used to look for Percy. But maybe the Hephaestus cabin can figure something else out. With Jake incapacitated, I'm senior camper, and I van volunteer for the quest." Suddenly, that kid Leo stood up.

"It's me," He said. His cabin mates stirred and several tried to pull him back to his seat, but he stood firm. "No, it's me. I know it. I have an idea for transportation. Let me try! I can fix this!" Jason considered it before smiling.

"Well, we stared this together, so it seems only right you come along, Leo," He said. "Get us a ride and you're in."

"Yes!" Leo said, pumping a fist.

"It'll be dangerous," Nyssa warned. "Hardship, monsters, and terrible suffering. It's possible none of you will come back alive."

"Please, Miss Nyssa, don't be so negative," Emily requested. Her words had a lightening affect on me, and suddenly I couldn't remember what was so bad about going on this quest. Leo's frown turned to a smile.

"Cool! Suffering? I love suffering! Let's do this thing!"

"Then Jason, you only need to chose the third quest member," Annabeth said. "And the dove-"

"Oh absolutely!" Drew called, standing up and flashing a smile. "The dove is obviously Aphrodite. Everybody knows that. I'm  _so_  yours!"

"No," Piper said sternly, stepping forward.

"Oh, back off, Dumpster girl."

" _I_  had the vision of Hera; not you. I have to do this."

"Anyone can have a vision. You were just at the right place at the right time. Look, fighting things is all fine, I suppose, and people who build things…" She glanced at Leo. "Well, I guess  _someone_  has to get their hands dirty. But you need  _charm_  on your side, and I can be very persuasive. I can be very useful." The campers began muttering in agreement.

"No," Someone said, and I realized it was Emily. She stood, still smiling. "My apologies, Miss Drew, but you aren't supposed to go on this quest."

"And are you suggesting  _you_ -?"

"Please stay calm and respectful when addressing your half-sister, Miss. In any case, you are clearly unworthy of going."

"What makes you think that?"

"Your reasons for going are not to save the world, not entirely. You wish to merely to get more attention, along with trying to scam a boy you think is cute into loving you, by taking advantage of your powers. They are a gift from mother, not to be used in such an evil way. Your intentions are far from pure, and I doubt you have what it takes to fight. You will insult Leo, distracting him from his job of helping you break the cage. You have to get along with these two, and you can't fake kindness with a pretty face. My apologies for voicing such qualities that are better left unsaid. I hope you can forgive me, but I wish for the best team regarding this quest. And in the end, you must let Jason choose himself, no charm speak."

Emily and I had been informed of this thing called charm speak that children of Aphrodite could have sometimes, which swindled people's wills to agree with whatever's being said. Emily didn't have full blow charm speak, but she was still very influential, and it was hard to argue with her, especially now that her powers had been increased when she'd been claimed. But it seems this Drew had a resistance to charm speak, considering she had it herself.

"Well, you aren't exactly quest worthy either."

"I'm not suggesting I go. I'm merely saying you don't."

"Who do you suggest, Em?" I asked. She smiled.

"Piper." Everyone looked to her, and Piper suddenly realized what she'd just said. Emily smiled at her and then mouthed "You can do it," with an eager look, urging her on. Piper took a deep breath and straightened, nodding.

"Please, Dumpster girl? She's not even a child of Aphrodite. She's still a new camper too, so she can't fight monsters and has zero experience. What the heck can she do? At least I know some combat even if I'm not Mr. Hades." Veon's eyes narrow in a scary way, his face remaining deadpan instead of angry, and I realize, him being claimed might have darkened him from the friend I'd once knew. Still, the crowd began to go towards Drew's side again, but Emily remained calm and still smiled as Piper's face faltered. Emily put her hand on Piper's shoulder and nodded before Piper's face turned determined, even angry.

"No! I'm supposed to go!" She announced. There was an insistence, and richness to her tone, and I wanted desperately to believe her, that she was going on this quest. With Drew, it felt like I was being forced, but with Piper, it felt like that's what I wanted. The other campers seemed to have the same effect, and Emily smiled wider before stepping back.

Suddenly Piper began glowing pink/reddish glow around her. She looked up, but there was no symbol like with me or Leo. Then she looked down and yelped to see she was in a similar outfit to Emily (not charred from lightning, of course) with the only difference being she had lush, long, darker brown hair, which was braided with gold ribbons down one side, falling across her shoulder.

"What happened?" Piper asked. Annabeth pointed at the dagger Piper had, still at her hip on a golden cord. She hesitantly drew it and then looked at her reflection. She wore makeup like Emily, and based on her original appearance, I assumed she was like Zyanya and didn't wear or like makeup. There were subtle touches, making her lips cherry red and bringing out all different colors in her eyes.

"Beautiful…" Jason muttered. "Piper, you're a knock out."

"No! Not possible!" Drew shouted.

"This isn't me," Piper protested. "I-I…I don't understand!" Emily took a step back and bowed, everyone else following, even Chiron who folded his front legs to bow as well.

"Hail, Piper McLean," Emily said in an "I told you so" tone. "Daughter of Aphrodite, lady of the doves, goddess of love." Wow. Emily's transformation had made her really bold, and she knew Piper was a daughter of Aphrodite. I'd thought Emily hadn't changed as much as Veon seemed to have, but maybe I was wrong. When I had a trident of water appear above my head, I felt no different than before. Maybe they were just destined to change while I wasn't. Or maybe it was just this night. Maybe things would be over in the morning and we were all just being different now that we'd been claimed, but it would wear off.

As the meeting was silently ended with Piper's claiming, everyone stood and dispersed, like when the credits start rolling during a movie. Some people went to congratulate her, others started talking amongst their fellow campers, and some disappeared, leaving and getting to bed (Hypnos cabin included). I lost Emily in the crowd of people, and Veon seemed to have melted into the shadows somewhere and vanished. I had tried to follow him, but he walked to a shadow and by the time I got there, he was gone. Had he always been able to do that?

Zy disappeared as well, so I went out of the crowds and walked out to the forest, hoping to get to the lake. I didn't  _need_  large amounts of water, but ever since my claiming, I'd felt uneasy without its presence. I still had my bottle of water on me, but sadly I'd left the backpack I'd used for at least the past three years back at school when that Nico kid had taken us to this camp. I felt comfort in feeling the vibe I got from the water, that connection when you can sense it's tug, edging me to control it (or drink it, but I think that was just normal thirst.)

" _Audrey: Monster Hunting since age 8. I'm kind of used to it._ " Usually, demigods apparently don't get attacked by monsters until they're around 13, but I had faced my first monster at 8 years old. I fingered a necklace that my neighbor had given me after I narrowly survived my first encounter. It had been raining that day, but if it hadn't, not even my random power over water would have saved me. I had told my neighbor, Mrs. Stevenson, and she had given me this necklace, saying she'd use it back in the day, along with a book on some monsters that I might need. She said it was made of celestial bronze, not that I'd known what that meant at the time. It transformed into a dagger, and I used that to handle the monsters.

That dagger saved my life, and not just by helping me kill the monsters that came after me. It made me believe. Believe that maybe I wasn't just an outcast in the world, that maybe there was a reason I was alive. It comforted me, helped me gain courage I thought I'd never have, strength I was never brave enough to gain on my own. The book got me interested in reading, and despite my dyslexia, my grades began to rise as well thanks to that.

Sure, it could be hard at times, keeping the secret of my fighting life, and I wasn't exactly a bank, so supplies weren't in abundance. Nightmares came to me, haunting me with fears of doing this forever, and the thought of the day I slipped up and my family got dragged into this. They weren't my dream parents, but I couldn't drag anyone else into this mess. I managed that life, even from only age eight.

Then, one day, I had been approached by a person from Camp Half-Blood, taken here once to talk to Chiron. He gave me ambrosia to heal my wounds, as I had a thick and jagged cut going all the way up my arm from a previous fight, and it hurt like there was no tomorrow. He showed me there were others like me, introduced me to a world I never thought I'd ever believe in. But also that I was a mistake. Poseidon shouldn't have had a daughter, and I had heard of this Percy being one too. Chiron said I was a good mistake, as Percy set a good example, but that didn't make me feel much better.

I wasn't ready to give up the simple life I had, I wasn't ready to be claimed, and I didn't  _want_  to be. So I left the camp and returned to my life, though I never forgot about this place. I did want to come back though. I had demigod blood, whether I liked it or not, and Veon once told me "normal people usually want special lives and special people usually want normal lives." I felt the urge to go back and embrace what I was, learn of everything I had only ever dreamed of, once upon a time.

So I began to embrace my powers. I must've stared at a cup of water for ages before I finally got a tug from it, or maybe it had only been a few seconds. I couldn't really remember. I just knew that once I finally connected to that water, I felt whole. I saw water in a new light, felt a bond to it that made me relax, feel in control. Made me feel free. I realized I wasn't a freak for being different. I was strong, I was different, extraordinary, and I would be proud of it.

Halfway through freshman year, I had made friends with Emily, Lucy, and Zytaveon. I hadn't know about their powers, but I knew that I got along with them, felt that they were different too. When a manticore attacked the school parking lot, Emily and Lucy had been with me, and that was when we all realized our friends were just like us, different. Lucy had been the one to inform us about Veon and his heritage, and told us she did have another name: Zyanya.

Then came yesterday. It started out normal, and then at lunch everything fell apart. We'd gotten the students out, and then Lucy came running up saying Veon was heading to fight the hydra. It was surprising this was the first time all four of us had been present when something attacked. Lucy informed me that he'd had his fair share of fighting over the years, but somehow, even with all this time getting to know him, he hadn't figured out we were like him too. My best friends. They always seemed to slip away from me.

She died last year, at 92, when I was 15. Mrs. Stevenson, the woman who'd played such an important role in my life. I'd heard she was in the hospital, and I visited her a couple times before. She'd told me that dying like this was a privilege. Not many demigods lived to die of old age. I hated it, but I also understood it. If she was happy, I would be too. They had supported me when I told them about her death last year. They'd comforted me, even Veon. I'd considered him a brother at the time, again  _not_  a romantic relationship, and now we were definitely, confirmed cousins. But he'd changed.

Only moments after his claiming and he was darker, I could tell. Whatever the darkness of his father's claiming did to him, he had definitely been affected. Emily, she'd changed too. I liked Emily the way she was, kind, reserved, yet also willing to speak out for the sake of goodness, and looking on the bright side. But today she'd gotten bold, she'd accused someone of their unworthiness. Sure, that Drew totally deserved it, but that didn't mean I wanted my friend to change in order for Drew to get what was already coming for her. And don't even get me started on Zyanya. Had Lucy been just an act to fit in? Had our friendship been a lie? It couldn't have been, but there was still that sinking feeling of doubt creeping into me.

I clenched my fists in my jacket pocket. They were all changing, slipping from my grasp. I thought that once Veon had joined our trio of demigod friends, we couldn't get any higher, any closer, but maybe they were falling father from me now that we'd come to Camp Half-Blood. They'd never leave me on purpose…right? But maybe our heritages were going to separate us whether we chose it or not. Our specialness, our god sides, should've brought us closer, made us bond in a world where everyone else didn't understand who or what we were. But now…it was only drawing us farther apart.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by a tremble in the ground. The water in the bottle at my side slightly rippled and moved, if even just a little, but I could feel the vibrations, the water an extension of myself. Then, there was a grinding snort, like steam coming out of a barrel. What the heck was that? Based on the vibrations, it was big, but it was a ways off. I instinctively headed in that direction, as I had adjusted to running  _towards_  danger rather than away from it over the years.

I ended up finding a giant metal dragon with two glowing red eyes. It was about sixty feet long, snout to tail, its body made of interlocking bronze plates. Its claws had to be the size of butcher knives, if not bigger, and its mouth was lined with countless dagger-sharp metal teeth. Steam came out of its mouth, and it snarl sounded like a chainsaw cutting through a tree. In front of him was that kid Leo, and Emily, both staring more in amazement than fear.

"You don't have wings," Leo said. The dragon's snarl died and he turned his head in confusion, probably wondering why they weren't running in terror. "Hey, no offense. You're amazing! Who  _made_  you? How are you powered? Hydraulic or nuclear? If it were me, I would've put wings on you; I mean what dragon doesn't have wings? Well…I guess maybe you're too heavy to fly? Should've thought about that." The dragon stepped forward, ready to trample them, when Emily held her hand out in heed and making it stop.

"Wait, please!" Then she pulled her hands together in front of her and smiled. "You are  _so_  cute. Who cares if you can't fly, buddy? But you need to go. They've got traps here, buddy." The dragon merely grunted, not understanding, and then, like dragons do, it breathed a stream of fire. A column of white-hot flames shot out over the two engulfing them completely. Emily may have randomly survived that lightning strike, but that was a single moment, maybe too fast to do any real damage. This was a wave of flames probably hot enough to melt metal, and lasting way longer then that split second of a lightning flash.

"Emily!" I shouted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now I'll have to cut that off there because these chapters are progressively getting longer and longer, because I just can't stop typing. Again, thank you amalspach and if you want, follow this link and read her take on Audrey's past: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12459532/1/In-the-Shadows (P.S. For all those who pay very close attention to detail, I apologize for any continuity errors between the two stories)


	7. Festus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now a shorter chapter with Emily, helping to save a dragon with Leo and Audrey.

First Person: Emily

I closed my eyes and hoped that I wasn't taking too big a risk. I felt the fire burn against my skin, and the force of the blast was like what you'd imagine getting blasted by a fire hose felt like. It stung, knocked the wind out of me, but when it stopped, I was still intact. I looked to my arms in front of me to see they weren't burnt at all, and even my dress had made it out without injury. It would've been a  _very_  awkward situation with Leo and that dragon here if my clothes had ended up burning. I guess the lightning bolt was more powerful than the fire and in a concentrated into a faster attack, so that's why my dress took a hit. Well, never look a gift horse in the mouth (or however that works, I really don't get that saying).

Leo (and thankfully, his clothes) were okay as well. I had gotten this feeling that Leo was special, that fire wouldn't hurt him. I trusted my gut when I guessed that Piper was a daughter of Aphrodite, and that she needed to go on that quest. I had an increased instinct after being "claimed" I guess you could call it. Technically, it wasn't my mother claiming me, but when I looked at it like Zyanya had said, imagining Aphrodite had adopted me, I guess it wasn't that hard to believe. I now felt power in my words, I felt the push to follow my instincts, and something within me had changed. I felt free, brave, strong, and my new sense of awareness was weird yet comforting.

"Emily!" Audrey nearly knocked me off my feet with a hug and I was surprised to see her here.

"Audrey what are you…?"

"What the heck were you thinking, and how the heck did you do that?"

"Uh, long story."

"You can't burn us," Leo was saying to the dragon. "Stay, boy. Don't take another step closer. I don't want you caught. They think you're broken and have to be scrapped, but I don't believe that. I can fix you if you'll let me." The dragon creaked, roared and then charged. It was then that I realized there was a large trap down in a vat made by the Hephaestus kids just as the dragon tripped it. The floor of the crater erupted with a sound like a bunch of trash can lids crashing together as dirty and leaves flew and I saw a carefully hidden metal net.

The three of us ended up being knocked off our feet, turned upside down, and covered in Tabasco sauce and oil (bait for the dragon, I assume). We found ourselves sandwiched between the vat and the dragon as it thrashed, trying to free itself from the net. The dragon blew flames in every direction as it thrashed, lighting up the sky and setting the trees on fire. The oil and sauce burned and Audrey quickly tried connecting to the oil and willing the liquid off of her before she was burnt too badly while Leo and I suffered from merely a bad smell.

"Will you stop that?!" Leo shouted to the squirming dragon. I realized if we didn't move quickly, we'd be crushed, when suddenly we fell out, Audrey having unleashed her water bottle and slicing through the net with the water. It took her longer than it might have, as even though she'd been working since she'd gathered her bearings, the net was meant to hold that giant dragon. She'd cut through certain points that made a hold big enough for us to fall through, but only one at a time. I fell first, then Audrey, and then Leo. I hit the ground, then felt Audrey crash onto my stomach, and then Leo falling on top of her as well.

We grunted and got up to hurry to the dragon's head. It tried to snap at us, but its mouth and teeth were tangled in the net. It tried to blow fire, and Audrey dodged, but this time the flames were just orange, as the dragon seemed to be losing power, the fire sputtering before it even reached us.

"Please, boy, you'll show them where we are," I said. "Then they'll come and hurt you, trying to take you apart. Is that what you want?" The dragon's jaw made a creaking sound, as if it were trying to communicate, and I reached out to rub its muzzle. "Okay then, but you're going to have to trust us. Leo?" Leo got to work searching the dragon, probably for a control panel. We decided it'd be easier to search him while the dragon was restrained, or constrained at least, and releasing the dragon was a risk that he might run away again. The poor thing was confused and terrified and I petted his nose, trying to keep him calm.

"So what are you two doing out here?" Audrey asked.

"Well, Leo went out into the forest, and I followed to see he was looking for a ride, the dragon that Chiron mentioned. I figured why not help him, and I wouldn't take no for an answer. This poor thing can't be melted down. He deserves a chance to be fixed, don't you, boy?"

"Well, that sounds like you."

"What about you? What are you doing out here?"

"Just taking a walk. Needed to get away from all the havoc of today for a moment, you know?"

"Yeah. It's nice out here at night." It took a while for Leo to find the control panel on the back of the dragon's head, which was a logical place, but I guess there were numerous places it could've been. Of course, the dragon didn't like being in there so long, and even when I told him to be patient and that Leo would be done soon, that wasn't gonna last forever as he began to squirm.

"Emily, can you get him to hold still?!" Leo called, atop the head of the dragon in the net. The dragon make a sound that almost resembled a whimper and I rubbed his nose.

"I know, boy just a bit longer, I promise. Hold still and it'll be done before you know it." While Leo examined the wires inside, Audrey and I saw an unhappy wind spirit, a dryad, putting out the flames in the surrounding area. She smothered the flames on her dress before looking to us and made a gesture that was probably rude in Dryad before flying off. We hadn't started a forest fire, luckily, but she wasn't pleased. She should calm down and cheer up. At least she was done now, and the fire didn't spread.

"Ha, well no wonder," Leo said.

"Hm?" I called up and the dragon creaked in questioned as well.

"You've got a corroded control disk, boy. Probably regulates your higher reasoning circuits. Rusty brain. No wonder you're a little…confused." I sensed he was about to say crazy, but good for him to remember it wasn't this big guy's fault for what happened. "I don't have a replacement disk…this is a complicated piece of circuitry. I'm gonna have to take out the disk to clean it. It'll only be a minute." I assured the dragon it'd be fine as Leo removed the disk, the dragon going still. His eyes shut off, the hum that I'd been getting used to disappeared and he held completely still. Leo climbed down to clean it, but he looked concerned.

"Some circuits are beyond repair, and I can only fix them with a completely new disk," He reported. "I don't exactly know how to make one, though." He worked quickly, saying he didn't know if the disk being out for too long could cause damage, before climbing up and trying to clean the rest of the wires and gearboxes, getting very dirty in the process. "Clean hands, dirty equipment…" He muttered in deep thought. Something told me that was an important saying to him, but my instincts weren't exactly telling the future, so I couldn't tell what it was.

By the time Leo finished, his hands were black with grease and his clothes looked like he'd just lost a mud-wrestling contest, but he seemed happy with the mechanisms. Now he got to work connecting some wires, slipping in the disk and sparks flew. The dragon whirred to life, shuddering before its eyes began to glow.

"See?" I asked him. "Better?" The dragon made a sound like a high-pitched speed drill and opened its mouth to reveal its rotating teeth. I smiled and petted his nose. "I'll take that as a yes. Leo, can we free him now?"

"Yep! Audrey, was it? Give me a hand, will ya?" She walked off to help him cut through certain points in the net. Audrey had seemingly been able to gut the net easily before, but that must've been both of our adrenaline affecting the moment, as it took her much longer to cut through the net meant to hold a giant dragon. Once he was finally free, he shook the last of the net off before roaring triumphantly and shooting fire into the sky.

"Seriously, could you not show off?" Leo asked. The dragon creaked in question.

"He needs a name," Audrey said.

"Well I think it should be Festus," Leo declared.

"Why?" I asked.

"I don't know. He looks like a Festus."

"Can't argue with logic like that." The dragon whirred its teeth and seemed to be happy with it.

"Cool. But we still have a problem. You need wings, boy." Festus tilted his head and snorted steam before lowering his back in an unmistakable gesture. "Where are we going?" But he didn't wait for a response, instantly climbing on. Audrey and I did as well, and Festus walked off into the forest. I lost track of our location after a while, as the forest was dark and the dragon's eyes were our only source of light. The dragon was warm though, and considering the hour I was about to fall asleep when we finally crossed a stream where we met a dead end. There was a limestone cliff a hundred feet tall, a solid and sheer mass that the dragon, or even we could possibly climb. Festus stopped at the base and lifted his front foot like a dog pointing.

"What is it?" Leo asked as we hopped down and I stretched to keep myself awake. Leo walked up to the cliff, but confirmed it was solid rock. "It's not gonna move out of your way." But the dragon remained still.

"Look for some kind of way to open a secret door," I suggested.

"Ooo, secret door," Audrey said. Leo walked up and touched the wall, when suddenly his fingers smoldered. Lines of fire spread from his fingertips like ignited gunpowder, sizzling across the limestone. The burning spread to create the outline of a glowing red door five times our height. The three of us backed up as the door swung open, surprisingly silent for its size.

"Perfectly balanced…" Leo muttered. "That's some first-rate engineering."

"Cool," Audrey and I said together, making us laugh. Festus unfroze and walked inside, and this seemed to be routine. We followed inside before the door closed behind us. I considered our options quickly, and decided that we could improvise our way out if we needed to, and the door had to be operable from the inside, or that would just be a stupid design. The lights flickered on, a combination of electric fluorescents and wall-mounted torches and I saw the cavern was amazing.

"Festus, what is this place?" Leo asked, clearly in awe as well. The dragon walked to the center of the room, leaving large footprints in the thick dust, and curled up on a large circular platform.

The cave was the size of an airplane hanger, with an endless amount of worktables and storage cages, rows of garage sized doors along either wall, staircases leading up to a network of catwalks above, and equipment everywhere. There were hydraulic lifts, welding torches, hazard suits, air-spades, forklifts, and a chamber that I didn't know what it did, but I knew that I should  _not_  touch it. There were numerous bulletin boards with covered and tattered, faded blueprints, along with weapons, armor, shields - war supplies everywhere, most only partly finished.

Hanging from chains far above the dragon's platform, was an old tattered banner that was nearly too faded to read, and the words were in Greek. I stared at the words and squinted, and that gut feeling I now had told me it said  **Bunker 9**. So now I could read Greek? This demigod thing was getting more and more fun. Bunker 9 either meant that this was a bunker made by Cabin Nine, or that there were at least eight others.

I looked to Festus and realized that this must've been his home; he could've been built on that very platform he was on. The place was covered in a thick layer of dust, cobwebs all around, so this place had to have been forgotten for a long time. I wasn't even a Hephaestus kid and this was amazing, and in the short time Leo and I were out looking for the dragon, I'd learned that this is  _totally_  his style.

"No way…" Leo muttered.

"What?" Audrey asked and we walked over to where he was. He pointed to a map on the wall, a battle map of camp, but the paper was yellow and cracked like onion skin. He pointed to a date on the bottom that said 1864.

"Whoa, that long?" I realized.

"No kidding," Audrey agreed. "That's what? 150 years?"

"Somewhere around that, yeah," Leo agreed. Then he turned before gasping and hurrying away. We followed to find him looking over some blueprints on a bulletin board. He stared at a white-line drawing almost faded beyond recognition: a Greek ship from several different angles. At the bottom, the faded words read " **Prophecy? Unclear. Flight?**  I realized the head of the ship looked exactly like Festus: a dragon's head. Leo reached to touch it, but the paper crackled at his touch, so he decided to leave it.

"Let's look for clues to get him wings," I suggested. Audrey and I may not be mechanics, but we could tell what a wing for a dragon like Festus would look like, and we could have Leo look at it to confirm if we  _did_ find something. The three of us spilt up about the workshop searching, but even with three of us, this place was so big, seemingly endless doors and storage rooms to look through.

Festus snorted, saying that we didn't have all night. I guess we didn't. If we couldn't find Festus some wings or something to help him fly, then we needed to divert our attention to finding something that could, but when was the point where we needed to give up on using Festus? I wasn't gonna give up hope for the boy. Not only was he awesome, and much better than any plane you could get, but he had a personality, one I wasn't going to just say "too bad, so sad, scrapheap" to.

I walked over and petted Festus's nose, but then he jerked his head upwards slightly. It wasn't a gesture to say, "stop it," but more of a gesture to say, "look over there." I looked over to find a leather tool belt that had been left next to his construction pad. Obviously, it wasn't for me, but maybe he wanted Leo to use it. I picked it up and planned to give it to him, but then Festus raised his head, his eyes glowing like flashlights and I turned towards the ceiling where he was looking and then smiled.

"Leo! Audrey! You're gonna wanna see this!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Emily and Audrey are friends with Festus and Leo. The next chapter will be more from Zytaveon and the name of this story will begin to come into play. Please review with feed back or suggestions.


	8. Smiles and Shadows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review with comments, concerns or suggestions. I appreciate feedback so I can make this story as enjoyable as possible to readers.

First Person: Zytaveon

I'd stomped back to the Hades cabin once I'd managed to disappear into the shadows and teleport outside. Usually, teleporting wears me out, makes me famished even if I've just ate, and fatigued like I just ran a pacer test in gym class, but now I barely felt it. I headed inside, set my lance against the wall and then collapsed on the bed, ignoring the fact that the beds here were practically coffins. We were children of a death god, not vampires, people.

My dad had just stolen my favorite jacket, damn it. I guess the Aphrodite kids had to have had it worse, based on Piper's resistance to being claimed, but at least they looked good in their outfit. Being the son of a god as important as Hades is cool and all, but I'm no guy that's gonna wear a toga cause of it. I needed to change, now, but I had nothing to change into. Even if I'd brought my backpack from school, I still hadn't brought any clothes with it, and the most important thing in there was my graphing calculator.

So I passed out on my bed unhappy and let myself try and sleep. Sleeping usually felt nice, close to death but also not. A kind of place in between, and I found it ironic that it was possible to be a living kid with death in his blood. Of course it was hard to say Hades was death when Thanatos (whose literal nickname is Death) existed. The guy was nice, but I prefer Hades as a father.

Maybe this was a result of being claimed, but my sleep felt darker now.  _Child of Hades, beware the pit. Should you fall, you will be one with it. Live in darkness, feel their pain. Know all you do will be in vain. The dead shall scream, the living shall fall, until you hear the final call_. Final call? I, of course, was afraid of the pit. My f-ing dad was afraid of it, for the gods' sake, though none of the gods would ever admit it. They hide their fear with hatred.

I examined every line as best I could.  _Beware the pit_? Check.  _Should I fall, I'll be one with it_? Definition of falling? Death or defeat. Or maybe it meant if I ever fell to the pit somehow.  _Live in darkness_. I'm gonna have to live in darkness, but does that mean I'll be forced to live down there if I  _do_  fall?  _Feel their pain_. Whose pain? Every creature that has ever fallen to the pit? The pit is where monsters go when killed. Over the years, there has to be a countless number of dead beasts, suffering in that place.  _Know all you do will be in vain_. Great. Didn't really need that "encouragement."  _The dead shall scream, the living shall fall_. Not hard to figure out that means everyone's gonna be a bit unhappy.  _Until you hear the final call_. What final call? Sometimes prophecies really bugged me.

I'm not sure when my thoughts turned to dreams, but I found myself in pain. There was stinging all across my body, my lungs burned when I breathed, my muscles sore and weak. My stomach was empty, my mouth dry from thirst, and I felt cold. This wasn't the empowering feeling of death, this was something much scarier. It was eating away at me, and I could feel my heartbeat making my head throb. I wanted it to end. I wanted to go home. I wanted to die. Wasn't death home to me already? But my body wouldn't allow it. Around me was an apocalypse. There was no end to the red sky, the ground beneath me was like glass, the air like poison.

"Bring him…wants…alive…doesn't mean…break him first…" I heard a voice say, but the sound was distant and fuzzy. Then I felt a sharp, stinging pain, even worse than the throbbing I already had. I was knocked to the side with a right hook, powerful enough to probably shatter bones, and based on the increase in pain, my arm must've been shattered. The next his was from the opposite side, and this time hit me in the head. This time, my neck had to have broken, because I couldn't feel much anymore. I watched as two monsters, I was too foggy to care what they were, continued to beat my body to a pulp.

Then, I was dragged by my broken arm, and I was kinda glad I couldn't feel it as well as I should. I knew there was pain on my back as I was dragged across the ground, though I couldn't feel that very well either and when we finally made it to wherever they were taking me, I felt an even colder presence. The two monsters fled the scene as fast as they could once they dropped me. Like an offering to a beast. And I wasn't far off.

The cold began to seep into me, and even if my senses were dulled, I knew pain. Pain of countless people suffering, and there was no other way to describe it than all the darkness that ever existed eating away at my very soul. The darkness had a consciousness, it was forcing me to feel hurt, it was making everything within me suffer, but not die. There were screams, pain, misery, and I'm not sure what was what anymore as I began to lose my mind.

" _Help me…Help me! Help me, help me, help me, help me…please…HELP ME!_ " I begged, but I couldn't speak, and no one was listening.

" ** _You will be my vessel, son of Hades. Feel the pain, child, the wrath, and know you will be a part of something greater. You will be…_** "

"Tartarus!" I screamed as I woke up. I could feel my body again, I was fine. But the trembling didn't stop, even as I tried to hold my hands still. I wiped the sweat from my brow and tried to calm down, getting out of bed and realizing I was still in dad's stupid toga.  _Focus on that. Worst thing you have to deal with today is finding a new outfit_. I grabbed dad's lance and felt the death from it, and it was calmer than what my dream had been, less aggressive and more soothing.

Getting an idea, I flicked it out to the side and it shrunk down into a small cylinder than fit nicely into my hand. Feeling a weird urge and tug from it, I placed it against my right forearm and it a band suddenly shot from it, around my arm and then taking the rest of the cylinder with it to end up being a black cuff.

I felt so full of energy since my dad's claiming me, and though I was unhappy with the outfit, the power boost was nice. There was a gut feeling within me now, guiding me to do things, to use my power in some way. I released the flood of energy and allowed it to do what it wanted, and suddenly my outfit began to transform into black smoke. I was engulfed by it and felt it tingling against my skin until it flew up and off my body, vaporizing. I looked down to realized I was back in my normal outfit, and sighed. Okay, so I hated my dad a little less now.

I walked outside, heading to the Poseidon cabin to look for Audrey, but as she was the only resident, I quickly realized she wasn't there. I headed to the Aphrodite cabin next, and Emily was there, now changed out of her dress and into some jeans, a plaid, long sleeved shirt and boots, but it looked like they were having some drama.

"Please, Miss Drew, don't be so harsh," Emily requested.

"Shut it, and stop calling me "Miss!" Drew ordered. Even Emily was frowning now, and that was scarier than her smile.

"That's not true!" A girl squeaked about a conversation I had missed, but Drew glared at her and she melted back into the crowd.

"Hardly matters," Drew said. "Besides, you two couldn't break anyone's hearts anyway. And Piper, hon, this nonsense about Tristan McLean - that's  _so_  begging for attention." I wasn't exactly a guy who cared for movies, and even less of a guy who liked ones that stared Tristan McLean, but I knew he was a famous guy, I guess. And Piper's last name was McLean…so she was the daughter of a movie star? I guess Aphrodite falling for a movie star wasn't too surprising, but the gods could never stick around to raise a demigod child…

"You mean he's  _not_  her dad?" One of the kids asked. Drew rolled her eyes.

"Please. Now, it's time for breakfast, people, and Piper here has to start that little quest. So let's get her packed up and out of here!" She broke up the crowd and got everyone moving, but even though she referred to them with "hon," and "dear," her tone was clearly demanding, like she expected to be obeyed. Man, it was a dictatorship here.

Emily, a boy and a girl helped Piper pack, even guarding the bathroom while she changed, and though Drew had the boy and girl wrapped around her finger, Emily not so much. She kept her eyes on Drew whenever she could see her, and there was a scowl on her face that looked unnatural on Emily. I was usually a guy who thought scowls looked more honest than a smile, but I learned to like it when Emily smiled despite any situation, even when she was unhappy about something, treating it like a joke.

Piper came out in a pair of well-worn jeans, a T-shirt, a comfortable winter coat, hiking boots that fit nicely, and her knife strapped on her belt. She still had the makeup and hair of Aphrodite's blessing, but she looked much more normal again. She mouthed thank you to the boy and girl, who clearly were happy at being thanked. I'd guess that Drew never thanked them. These kids deserved better than her. When Drew spotted Piper, she clapped in mock applause.

"Very nice! Dumpster girl in her quest outfit. Now, off you go! No need to eat breakfast with us. Good luck with…whatever. Bye!" Piper shouldered a backpack and walked out, clearly knowing that all eyes were on her. Emily looked at her with guilt and pity on her face, and I realized Emily must've blamed herself for sending Piper on a dangerous quest. When Piper reached the door and I moved out of her way, she turned back.

"You know, you all don't have to obey Drew," She said. The kids squirmed nervously, several glancing at Drew, but she was speechless.

"She's our head counselor," One managed.

"She's a tyrant. You all can think for yourselves. This isn't what love is about. There has to be more than Aphrodite than  _this_."

"More than this…" One kid echoed, and Emily's face brightened at Piper's accomplishment.

"Think for ourselves…" Another muttered.

"People! Don't be stupid!" Drew screeched. "She's charm speaking you!"

"No, I'm just telling the truth," Piper declared. I smiled at Piper. Whether she was meaning to charm speak or not, she was just telling what she believed, and that took bravery. Drew, of course, wasn't satisfied and sneered at her.

"You may have  _some_  power, Miss Movie Star, but you don't know the first thing about Aphrodite," She declared. "You're so smart? What do you think this cabin is about then? Tell them. Maybe then I'll tell them a few things about  _you_ , huh?" Piper looked angry, but then in thought. Yet Drew's glare and the attention of all the campers got to her, even with Emily smiling that she could do it.

"Not this," She said simply, a hint of anger covering a shaking in her voice. "Aphrodite is  _not_  about this," She declared, her voice deep with seriousness. Piper knew this wasn't what Aphrodite was about, this dictatorship, this take on love. I always knew that love could be a cruel thing, and I looked on the dark side during most conversations I had (Emily looking on the bright while Audrey and Lucy flipped depending on the subject) but what made it so painful was the realness. Only when you really loved someone would it hurt more to lose them. It would make your gut sting, your heart shatter, your mind shut down in sadness and despair. Losing someone like a friend hurt, but when they were really close friends, really close family members, someone you loved, I understood that the pain of losing them would crush you.

But I also knew the benefits of darkness. If you grieved for someone, it means you're a good person, it means you can feel. You can't smile a real smile without crying real tears. Piper could see that this place wasn't the good darkness that made you love the light. It was bitterer, the kind of darkness I didn't like. It was sharp like a knife, not smooth and sleek like I preferred. My eyes narrowed as Drew started laughing and Piper turned to leave, her eyes watering.

" _Not this?_ " Drew repeated with a smug tone. "Hear that? She doesn't have a clue!"

Then, something scary happened. Emily's scowl darkened to an extent I never thought she was capable of, and in a flash…she smacked Drew across the face with a definite slap. Drew's face was tossed to the side from the force, and when she brushed her hair out of her face, I saw the corner of her mouth was slightly bleeding, and her makeup was smeared. Everyone was staring in shock at Emily, me most of all. I'd  _never_ seen Emily so much as crush a  _spider_ , and I couldn't even swat a  _fly_  away without her scolding me.

There was complete silence for a moment, before Emily stomped out, angrier than I'd ever seen her before. I stared at the cabin members, who were still frozen and looking at the doorway where Emily had gone, and I quickly slipped out before the attention was diverted to me.

"Emily!" I called, chasing after her. "Emily!" She stopped and waited for me to catch up before her clenched fists and her sides came up and she turned back to me, looking absolutely miserable (not literally as Aphrodite's gift hadn't worn off yet) and wracked with guilt.

"I'm sorry! I lost it! I've never done that before! I just felt this anger and I couldn't stop myself and…!" Her hands were on her head now and I was afraid she was going to cry.

"Hey, its okay, Em," I tried, though I knew it wasn't.

"No, it's not! I've never lost control like that! I've never gotten so angry!" She began to hyperventilate. "And that's been happening lately; it's easier to get angry now, and harder to keep control, but that was the first time I'd let it out personally…And that Drew just pushes all the right buttons and makes me want to explode…!" I wasn't  _with_  Emily by any means, and she was more of a sister, to me (my cousin's daughter if you wanted to be technical thanks to our parents) but I hugged her and felt her begin to sob.

"Come on, Em. You've never lost it before, and you won't now. I'm supposed to be the negative one, you hear me? So you focus on staying positive. Maybe that claiming thing made you more sensitive to emotions, but if anyone can overcome that, it's you. Now please stop crying, I just got this shirt back." She laughed and pulled away, raising her glasses and wiping her eyes.

"Thanks." I put my hand on her shoulder.

"You keep smiling. And if you ever feel like that again, just breathe. I know you don't lose control, and I know you won't in the future, got it?" She nodded, wiping the last of her tears away and replacing her glasses.

"So, where'd you get your clothes back?"

"Oh, well apparently dad gave me the power to change my outfit, thankfully. I wasn't stepping outta that Hades cabin until someone got me a change of clothes, and I  _definitely_  wasn't gonna let Audrey in." She laughed. "That reminds me, she still wasn't in the Poseidon cabin when I checked on her earlier."

"Oh yeah. She and I went out yesterday with Leo to help him find a ride for his quest and you will not  _believe_  what we found!"

"I giant, flying metal dragon?" She frowned in disappointment.

"How'd you know?" I pointed up and she looked to see said dragon flying towards us in the sky. It began to dive down towards the camp, and a conch horn blew in warning. All the satyrs started screaming and running around begging not to be killed, and half the campers ran out of their cabins in a mixture of pajamas and armor.

"Wait! Don't shoot!" Emily shouted as loud as she could, her arms out in defense as the dragon landed in the middle of the green and walked up to her. It pushed its nose lightly against her, like a dog would to get its owner's attention, and Emily began petting it. "Aw, I missed you too, buddy." The other campers hesitantly circled around the dragon with swords, but the archers lowered their bows, obeying Emily's command.

The dragon was enormous, with bat-shaped wings twice its length that unfurled like metallic sails, making a sound like coins coming out of a slot machine every time they flapped. The thing was freaking awesome! On its back, Audrey waved, sitting behind that kid Leo. She quickly grabbed onto Leo when the dragon raised its head and spat a column of fire into the sky, but she was still smiling and laughing like a maniac. Campers scrambled away, but Emily laughed and just petted him again.

"It's beautiful," Piper muttered, walking up. I followed and we walked over to Emily while Leo and Audrey hopped down.

"People of Earth, we come in peace!" Leo shouted, his and Audrey's hands up in surrender, though they were still smiling. Leo and Audrey looked like they'd rolled around in a camp fire, covered in soot. Clearly, Audrey had taken off her jacket before she got messy, as it was still semi clean, and her face was a little less covered than Leo's, so she had tried to clean up, but obviously she had been working with machines. The two's hands were grease stained, and Leo wore a tool belt around his waist that I didn't remember him having before. Leo's hair was so oily it stuck up in porcupine quills, and they both smelled strangely of Tabasco sauce, but they were absolutely delighted.

"He's just saying hello!" Audrey explained.

"That thing is dangerous!" An Ares girl shouted, brandishing her spear. "Kill it!"

"No wait!" Emily shouted as everyone hesitantly raised their weapons, but her voice made them all pause.

"Stand down!" Someone else shouted and we all looked to see it was Jason. He pushed through the crowd, flanked by Annabeth and that girl Nyssa. He gazed up at the dragon in amazement. "Leo, what have you done?"

"We found you a ride! You said I could go on the quest if I got you a ride, so I got you a class-A metallic flying bad boy! Festus can take us anywhere!"

"I-It has wings…" Nyssa stammered.

"Yeah! I found them and reattached them."

"But it never had wings…Where did you find them?"

"In the woods," Audrey said quickly. "Leo repaired his circuits too, well mostly, so no more problems with him going cuckoo." I smiled at her use of that song we had to learn.

"Mostly?" Nyssa asked. The dragon's head twitched before it tiled to one side and a stream of black liquid, most likely (hopefully) oil pouring out its ear and all over Leo, Audrey stepping to the side and any splashing oil missing her. Daughter of Poseidon; power over liquids…right, I knew that. (Nearly forgot though.)

"Just a few kinks to work out," Leo assured them.

"How did you survive…?" Nyssa asked, still staring in shock. "I mean, the fire breath…"

"I'm quick and lucky, and now I'm on this quest." Emily looked to him like she wanted to stay something, but kept quiet.

"You named him Festus?" Jason asked. "You know that in Latin, "Festus" means "happy"? You want us to ride off to save the world on Happy the Dragon?"

"Would you prefer Puff the Magic Dragon?" Audrey asked. Festus twitched and shuddered, flapping his wings.

"I suggest you get going, guys," Emily said, stroking Festus's nose. "All these people with weapons are making Festus nervous. I know, buddy."

"I already picked up some supplies in the - um, woods," Leo said. "We can move out now."

"But we haven't planned anything yet," Jason said, frowning. "We can't just-"

"Go," Annabeth said. "Jason, you've got three days until the solstice now, and you shouldn't ever keep a nervous dragon waiting. This is certainly a good omen. Now go!" Jason nodded and smiled to Piper.

"Ready, partner?" She looked to the dragon.

"You bet." Jason, Piper and Leo boarded and Emily petted Festus.

"I'll see you soon, boy."

"Sooner than you think!" Someone called, and I turned just in time to see a backpack flying my way and barely caught it, nearly having the wind knocked out of me as it was thrown with great force. Everyone turned to see Zyanya walking up, another backpack but turquoise in her left hand with a second purple one she held over her shoulder. She tossed Audrey the turquoise one and passed Emily the purple one.

"We're going too. Everyone on." Half the crowds were frozen in shock while the other half were muttering in confusion.

"A quest can only have three members, let alone seven," Annabeth said, voicing their thoughts.

"This quest is theirs, but I had another quest and I need a ride. Do you wish to argue with me further, Annabeth Chase?" She gave Annabeth a stern look, and Annabeth held out for only a moment.

"Go."

"W-Wait a minute, where-?" I began.

"Get on, Veon, or must I drag you?" Emily was already happily climbing onto the dragon, and Audrey, though confused, was doing the same. I stared at Zyanya, her face the same as my friend's but her eyes showing she was far different. And she was very much willing, and capable, of dragging me onto that dragon if I refused. But when I looked at her, oddly enough, I didn't want to. Why not? Not like I was gonna stay at this camp for the rest of my life, and especially after my friends go off on a quest. No way was I being left out. I just wondered what she had planned. I climbed on and she got on behind me before the dragon took off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now all of them are off on their quest, but Zyanya has something up her sleeve. Again, please review and tell me suggestions or tips for the story.


	9. Plans and Boreads

First Person: Audrey

"WHOO-HOOO!" I bellowed into the sky. Riding this dragon was one of the best feelings  _ever_! Sure, I liked the water, and I felt far away from it up here, but that feeling of weightlessness, of  _actually flying_  was totally worth it! The air was freezing cold up here, but the dragon provided enough heat to keep us protected in a bubble. Seat warmers FTW (for the win)! The grooves on the dragon designed like high-tech saddles, so they were comfortable, and we'd found a way to hook our feet in the chinks of the armor, like in stirrups, and use the leather safety harnesses cleverly concealed under the exterior plating.

We sat single file, Leo in front, then Piper, Jason, Emily, me, Veon and Zyanya. Leo held the reins steering, as though he'd done it all his life. Leo was a serious mechanic, and he'd done most of the work on Festus back at the bunker. Though Festus hadn't been completely repaired, I'd managed to clean him up and, with Leo's help, assist in fixing some of his mechanics, and Emily just comforted Festus when he was awake before heading back to the camp, planning to warn them to stand down when we arrived. Clearly, she'd gotten side tracked.

My water bottle was now mixed with Tabasco sauce (I'd managed to keep the oil and water from mixing thankfully), but I could refill it with clean water later. Leo's new tool belt was awesome. It had the ability to summon anything that could fit within the pockets, and that meant he could summon near every tool he needed, and when he put them, or anything else, back in, no weight added. Of course, that didn't give him a sword (or a chainsaw as he tried to request when we first got it) but it was still cool.

I didn't really care if we were going on a dangerous quest right now, or that we'd never be able to go back to our normal lives as we were officially claimed. Right now, I was just living in the moment. And at the moment, I was on a giant mechanical dragon, flying over the grey winter clouds of Connecticut, whooping and not caring who heard me.

"Cool, right?!" Leo called over the wind.

"What if we get spotted?!" Piper asked.

"The Mist!" Jason said. "It keep mortals from seeing magic things! If anyone spots us, they'll probably see a small plane or something!"

"You sure?!"

"Not really!" I noticed Jason was clutching a photo in his hand, one of a girl with dark hair. He quickly slipped it in his pocket when Piper turned around and saw it. "We're making good time! We'll probably get there by tonight!" Piper looked suspicious about the photo, but decided against questioning.

"Where are we heading?!"

"To find the god of the North Wind, and chase some storm spirits!"

"And what about us?!" Veon asked.

"We're going with them!" Zyanya shouted.

"I thought you said-!"

"I did! And I was telling the truth!" I turned back to see she had an arm wrapped around his waist, and I rolled my eyes. The two were  _so_  a couple. Zyanya was perfectly able to keep her balance on this dragon without holding onto him. Heck, if this dragon did a barrel roll she could stay on with her hands still free. I hadn't seen everything there was to see of her powers, but I'd seen her fighting before, and I knew enough about her to know she was doing that purposefully. Or, she'd done it without thinking and neither of them have realized it yet. With the speed of their relationship, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

"So what's the plan, bro?" Leo asked. "You said something about catching wind, or breaking wind, or something?" I'd learned from my little time working with Leo at the shop that he was like a more outgoing version of Emily. He was looking on the bright side, cracking jokes when he could, not taking things too seriously. Emily took things a bit more seriously yet still tried to see the good side in people, and situations, as well.

As we flew over New England, Jason explained the plan. We were to find some guy named Boreas and grill him for information -

"His name is  _Boreas?_ " Leo interrupted. "What is he, the God of Boring?"

Then we were to find the Venti (wind creatures or something) that had attacked them back at the Grand Canyon before they'd come to Camp Half-Blood -

"Can we just call them storm spirits?" Leo asked. "Venti makes them sound like evil espresso drinks."

And then we were to find the people the storm spirits worked for to go and free Hera. Simple. What could possibly go wrong? (I know  _many_  things that could.)

"So you want us to go look for Dylan, the nasty storm thing,  _on purpose_?" Leo summed up. "The guy who sucked Coach Hedge into the clouds and tossed me off the skywalk?"

"Sounds like you guys had a great time at the Grand Canyon," I muttered.

"That's about it," Jason said. "Well…there may also be a wolf involved, but I think she's friendly. She probably won't attack unless we show weakness."

"Oh yeah?" Zyanya asked. Jason explained that he'd had a dream last night about a big, nasty, mother wolf and a burned out house with stone spires growing out of the swimming pool.

"And you don't know where this place is?" Emily asked.

"Afraid not."

"There's also giants," Piper added. "That prophecy said " _the giants' revenge_."

"Hold on, giants?" Leo asked. "Like, more than one? Why can't there just be  _one_  giant that wants revenge?"

"There are definitely an army's worth of giants that have ever existed," Zyanya said.

"Great. Of course, with our luck, it's an army. So, what else do you know about these giants? Pipes? Didn't you do a bunch of research on myths for that movie with your dad?"

"Your dad's an actor?" Jason asked. Of course I  _knew_  of Tristan McLean, but it wasn't like I was a fan girl or anything. Must've been tough, growing up with a famous dad. If she ever got attacked by monsters, no one would believe her. They'd just say she was a good actor like her father, no one taking her seriously. Granted, apparently no demigod I know of had been attacked by monsters before the age of 12. Thirteen was the most common age, twelve was for one or two people who were unlucky enough to accidently run into a monster that sensed they had a god's blood within them. As an 8 year old, my parents didn't believe me about my first attack. The only person who did was…Mrs. Stevenson. She'd believed me, because she was just like me, or had been in the past. I once again fingered my necklace that was secretly a dagger. Maybe Zyanya had given me a sword, but this dagger would always feel more comfortable as my weapon.

Speaking of weapons, Veon now had both a sword and a lance. He could apparently change his clothes at will now too, having gotten his regular outfit back. Still, I'm not just gonna forget the whole toga thing. Good to have ammo against him if he ever found something against me. He had his black sword at his left hip, and his lance sheathed into a cuff on his right wrist, his shield on his left. He was fully armored up, equipped with weapons and new powers, and it was hard to believe that near two days ago the biggest thing we had to worry about was the math test on…well today.

"The giants, well, there were lots of giants in Greek mythology," Piper was saying. "If I'm thinking about the right ones, they're bad news. They're huge and almost impossible to kill. They could throw mountains, and were related to the Titians. They rose from the earth after Kronos lost the war - I mean the  _first_  Titan war, thousands of years ago - and tried to destroy Olympus. If those are the giants we're talking about…"

"Chiron," Jason said. "He said it was happening again, the last chapter. That's what he meant. No wonder he didn't want us to know all the details." Leo whistled.

"Okay…so giants who can throw mountains, friendly wolves that kill us if we show weakness, evil espresso drinks, and yeah, great. Gotcha. Maybe this isn't the time to bring up my psycho babysitter."

"Is that a joke?" Piper asked. Leo explained the story of his Tía (Aunt, if my Spanish isn't failing me) Callida, who turned out to be Hera somehow, and she'd appeared at camp before but only he'd seen her. Apparently she'd kept calling him her hero and making him do a bunch of crazy things, playing with knives, facing a snake, when he was only a toddler.

Back at the workshop, he'd told me, and had previously explained to Emily while they were out looking for Festus, he was fireproof and had the ability to summon fire to his hands. Apparently the people of Cabin Nine said anyone with power over fire was considered dangerous and previous people who were like that destroyed a bunch of stuff, so it wasn't a surprise when he chose not to tell them about his fire abilities. Not to mention that Emily and I had gotten him to tell us about how his fire abilities led to his mother's death. If he'd brought up the mention of his abilities, it may have eventually led to that, and he wasn't ready to share that story again so soon. He just said his mother died when the machine shop collapsed and left it at that, keeping his gaze forward. Then he told us about this woman in earthen clothes who seemed to be asleep and know the future.

"That's…disturbing," Piper said when he finished.

"You have no idea," Zy muttered behind us and I barely caught it over the wind.

"The thing is, everybody said don't trust Hera and stuff, that she hates demigods, and the prophecy said we'd cause death if we unleash her rage. So I'm wondering…why are we doing this again?"

"She chose you," Zyanya said. "The three of you are the first of the seven of the Great Prophecy. The quest is only the beginning of something bigger."

"What about us?" I asked.

"You three are a part of another prophecy. One involving the one Veon told back at the campfire." Veon's expression darkened to a point I'd never seen before. I guess all this scary stuff had just gotten more serious than a few monster killings back in middle school. Now he was genuinely scared for what that prophecy meant. Sure, I liked making fun of him, but he was still my friend, and the fact that I made fun of him and he still  _was_  my friend proves how close a bond we have. Besides, now I know he and I are officially cousins. No way was I gonna let him face that prophecy alone. Em and I would be there no matter what.

"Besides," Jason was saying. "Helping Hera is the only way to get my memory back, and that dark spire in my dream seemed to be feeding on Hera's power. If that thing unleashes a king of the giants in return for destroying Hera…"

"Not a good trade," Piper agreed. "At least Hera is sum what on our side. Losing her would throw the gods into chaos and a war with the giants could be even more destructive than the Titan War."

" _Much_  worse," Zyanya agreed.

"Chiron also mentioned the worse forces stirring on the solstice," Veon said. "It's apparently a good time for dark magic, and something could awaken if Hera were sacrificed on that day. This mistress who's controlling the storm spirits, the one who wants to kill all demigods and such-"

"Might be that weird sleeping lady," Leo finished. "Dirt woman fully awake? Not really something I'm eager to see."

"But who is she?" Emily asked. "What does she have to do with the giants?"

"Maybe they serve her or something," I suggested. "If she gets one giant up and running, he can do her dirty work, no pun intended, and wake more until there are enough of them to wake her and not enough of us left to stop her."

"So then we're going to have to stop that chain reaction by helping them with this quest," Emily said resolutely. After all our negativity, Emily's one declaration raised our spirits just a bit. As Festus kept going, the air turned colder as we continued north to where Boreas's palace, which was apparently in Quebec. Leo didn't know where that was, but told Festus to take us to Boreas and the dragon flew north, so all we could do was hope he knew the way so we didn't end up in the North Pole.

Leo ended up falling asleep, Piper making sure he didn't fall off, and I ended up falling asleep too with Emily (who had gotten some sleep when she went back to camp to inform everyone of our arrival) and Veon watching over me. It was nice up here, but sleeping on a dragon thousands of feet in the air wasn't very comforting. I ended up falling asleep anyway against the warmth of the dragon, and it was nice to finally rest after all the craziness of today and yesterday.

When I woke up, we were over a city on a cliff overlooking a river. The plains around it were coated with snow, and the city itself glowed nicely in the winter sunset. The buildings were crowded together inside high walls like a medieval town, older than anything I'd seen before, at least in real life. Maybe I'd seen something in a text book during school, but it was so boring I didn't bother to remember. In the center was what I assumed was a castle, with massive red brick walls and a square tower with a peaked, green gabled roof.

"Tell me that's Quebec and not Santa's workshop," Leo muttered, also waking up.

"Quebec City," Zyanya confirmed. "One of the oldest cities of North America. Founded around sixteen hundred or so."

"So, you know your history." I looked to see her give a "you have no idea" face. I wondered Zy's story. Was she an immortal or something? With her power…was she a god? "If you know so much, what's that castle?"

"I believe it's currently a hotel."

"Heads up, guys," Jason interrupted. "We have company!" Rising from the top of the tower were two winged figures, angry angels with nasty-looking swords. Festus didn't like them, clearly, as he dived, swooping to a halt in midair, wings beating and talons bared with a rumbling noise in his throat that it didn't take a Hephaestus kid to recognize.

"Steady boy," Leo said. "I don't think they'll appreciate being torched."

"They look like storm spirits," Jason said. "I don't like this."

"No, and we'd best get on their good side if we wish passage," Zyanya said. As the angles got closer, I could see they looked solid, and not what I'd imagine a storm spirit might look like. They looked like regular teenagers, actually, but I'd learned that anyone could be a monster in disguise, and as they got ever closer I saw they had icy white hair and feathery purple wings. Their bronze swords were jagged like icicles and their faces looked similar enough that they might be related, but not twins.

One was the size of an ox with a bright red hockey jersey, baggy sweatpants, and black leather cleats. The guy clearly had been in too many fights, as both his eyes were black, and I could see several of his teeth were missing when he grinned. The other's icy white hair was long and feathered into a mullet, and he wore pointy-toed leather shoes, too tight designer pants, and an awful silk shirt with the top three buttons open. He couldn't have weighed more than 90 pounds, and he had a bad case of acne, and that was coming from a girl who'd been in high school for three years. I didn't really know what to make of them, but I knew that this was gonna be rough.

The two pulled up in front of the dragon, and hovered, swords at the ready.

"No clearance," The hockey ox guy grumbled.

"Excuse me?" Leo asked.

"You have no flight plan on file," The mullet one said with a French accent and I'm sure was fake. I may not like Spanish, and I haven't gone to French class, but I had enough friends to know what a proper French accent sounded like, and what a fake one sounded like. "This is restricted airspace."

"Destroy them?" The ox one asked. Festus began to his steam, ready to defend them and Jason summoned his sword.

"Hold it," Zyanya said, using a real French accent and everyone looked to her. "Calais, Zethes, I apologize for the inconvenience, but we are rushing." The second guy stared at her thoughtfully.

"Hey…you look different."

"So do you, Zethes. These are my friends, by the way. Introduce yourselves."

"I am Cal!" The ox man said proudly, as though it had taken him a while to memorize that sentence.

"Short for Calais," The other one who had to be Zethes explained. "Sadly, my brother cannot say words with more than two syllables-"

"Pizza! Hockey! Destroy!" Cal shouted.

"-which includes his own name," Zethes finished.

"I'm Cal. And this is Zethes! My brother!"

"Wow," Leo said. "That was almost three sentences, way to go man!" Cal grunted in pleasure.

"Stupid buffoon," Zethes grumbled. "They make fun of you. But no matter. I am Zethes, which is short for Zethes, and the ladies there-" He winked, to Piper and Emily most likely (as I wasn't exactly Aphrodite material at the moment) but it was more like a facial seizure. "They can call me anything they like. Perhaps you would like to have dinner with a famous demigod before we destroy you?" Piper made a sound like gagging on a cough drop while Emily smiled, clearly forcing it though.

"That's…nice," She said.

"We are very romantic people. We Boreads."

"Boreads?" Jason repeated. "Like the sons of Boreas?"

"Ah, so you've been told of us! I'm flattered, Zyanya." He tried to wink and her and she rolled her eyes. He clearly missed that as he continued. "We are our father's gatekeepers. So, you understand, we cannot have unauthorized people flying in his airspace or large creaky dragons, scaring the silly mortal people." He pointed down and I realized that some people were noticing us. I wondered what we looked like with the mist, but an airplane flying by could be explained. We were holding still, and flying too low to be a plane, so we couldn't hold out for very long. I wondered if the two brothers could be seen too.

"This is why, sadly, unless this is an emergency landing…" He brushed his hair out of his acne covered face. "We shall have to destroy you painfully."

"Destroy!" Cal agreed enthusiastically. Zyanya held up her hand, holding on to Veon noticeably with her other, as she leaned out from the back of our group and sent out a wave of clear energy. It looked like the ripple above your grill when you heat it up, but in a directional wave towards the two brothers. Instantly, their swords steamed before literally melting into nothing but steam that disappeared into the air.

"No destroying," She said sternly, a deepness returning to her voice that happened when she went more Zyanya then Lucy. "Take us to Boreas, Zethes." He grunted, clearly unhappy about the loss of his weapon.

"I don't know…sister would have an avalanche if we allowed-"

"I'll handle her." He still looked hesitant, but then Emily spoke up, smiling and pouring her new charm speak into her words. It wasn't really charm speak, but it was a kind of kind aura that made anyone want to be nice around her. She couldn't use her smile to convince someone to fight someone else or hate someone else, but she could urge them to be peaceful, or, like with Piper, she could encourage them to stand up for themselves for a good cause.

"Please, sir, our dragon is malfunctioning. It could crash any minute. If you'd be so kind as to escort us to Boreas, you won't be punished and we will be on our way before you know it!" Festus shuddered helpfully, turning his head and spilling gunk out of his ear and ruining a black Mercedes in a parking lot below. Hope that guy has insurance. Water isn't very useful in removing an amount of oil that large.

"No destroy?" Cal whimpered. Zethes pondered for a moment before giving them another spasmodic wink.

"Well you  _are_  pretty, I mean  _right_. A malfunctioning dragon could be an emergency…and if you  _promise_  we won't get in trouble…"

"Destroy them later?" Cal suggested, which was probably as close to friendly as he got.

"It may take some explaining…but we can leave that to you, Zyanya. Father has not been kind to visitors lately. But yes, come, faulty dragon. Follow us." The two pulled out flashlights with little orange cones, like the ones traffic controller guys use on runways, and they swooped towards the hotel's tower.

"Follow them," Zyanya ordered.

"I wonder why Boreas hasn't been kind to visitors," Jason muttered.

"He just hasn't met us," Leo said. "Festus, after those flashlights!"

"Whoo!" Emily whooped in agreement. This was our first step into real danger, I realized. Hopefully nothing went wrong, and Zyanya had a plan here, because otherwise, we might just be walking into a den of psychos fully willing to kill us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we know Zyanya knows some people, and could even be a god. Please review and give any feedback or suggestions on the story. School is a thing for me, so the flow of stories may not be as fast as these first chapters, but I love writing so I'll keep it going as best I can and hopefully entertain readers who love FanFic and this series.


	10. Boreas and Aquilon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my longest chapter yet, at just over 1,000 words more than my second longest currently, and I apologize, but there was just so much to put in and I just don't like stopping. Anyway, please enjoy and review with comments, suggestions and tips for the story.

First Person: Zytaveon

This was a  _really_  bad idea. I'm not an experienced demigod by any means, but I knew that this was gonna bring us trouble. At first, I worried we were going to crash into the tower when a section of the slanted roof slid open, revealing an entrance that was easily wide enough for our dragon, though the top and bottom were lined with icicles like jagged teeth. It wasn't exactly making me feel any better, and once we got inside, my feeling of dread got even worse.

We landed in what appeared to be a penthouse suite, except the place had been hit by a flash freeze. The entry hall had vaulted ceilings forty feet high, enormous draped windows, lush oriental carpeting, a staircase at the back of the room leading up to another equally massive hallway, and many more corridors branching off left and right. But the ice made the room's beauty much more frightening. A fine layer of frost covered the furniture, the curtains frozen solid, the ceiling covered completely with icicles, and the ice-coated windows let in weird watery light from the sunset.

"Guys, fix the thermostat and I would totally move in," Leo said, sliding off the dragon with the sound of the carpet crunching under his feet. Maybe it was because I was used to the cold of death, but I felt warm despite the freezing environment. But then, it hit me and I realized though my jacket was stylish, it didn't help me in such cold temperatures. I realized it was because Zyanya had slid off the dragon, releasing her hold on me. How long had she had her arm around my waist? The thought would've made me heat up, had I not been in a room with the temperature of Antarctica.

"Not me," Jason said to Leo. "Something's wrong…something up there." Festus shuddered and snorted flames, frost starting to form on his scales.

"No, no, no," Zethes said, marching over. "The dragon must be deactivated. We can't have fire in here. The heat will ruin my hair." Festus growled and spun his drill bit teeth. Emily petted him.

"Please, sir, he doesn't like the idea of deactivation," She said.

"Destroy?" Cal requested.

"No, please, no more destroy talk."

"I think I have a solution," Audrey said. "Leo, where was it again?"

"Um, over here I think…" Leo responded.

"What are you-?" Piper began.

"Watch and learn, beauty queen. While we were repairing Festus last night, Audrey and I found all kinds of buttons."

"Some you do  _not_  want to know about," Audrey commented.

"But others…ah, here we are." Leo hooked his fingers behind the dragon's left foreleg. He pulled a switch, and the dragon shuddered before he began to fold like origami and everyone took a step back. His bronze plating stacked together, his neck and tail contracted into his body, his wings collapsed, and his trunk compacted until he was a rectangular metal wedge the size of a suitcase. That logically shouldn't have been possible, but I wasn't gonna talk like I knew anything about Hephaestus and his kids' magic with tech. Besides, in the life of a demigod, anything was possible. I should've been used to it by now, considering I'd met a good number of the gods, but I guess there was always more to learn in life, and I had only been a demigod for three years.

Leo tried to lift the suitcase, but forgot that it still weighed the same as the full, sixty foot, fully metal dragon. I guess the Hephaestus cabin hadn't thought to make some kind of gravity manipulators for the convenience, or they expected someone with super strength to own the dragon.

"Hold on," Audrey said before pushing another button. A handle flipped up on the top and wheels clicked out the bottom. Never underestimate Hephaestus; lesson learned. But gravity manipulators still would've been awesome. "Ta-da! The world's heaviest carry-on bag."

"T-That's impossible…" Jason muttered. "A thing that size couldn't possibly…"

"Oh, just go with it," Zyanya said.

"Stop!" Zethes ordered. Leo raised his hands in surrender.

"Okay…what'd I do? Stay calm. If it bothers you, I don't  _have_  to take the dragon as a carry-on-"

"Who are you? A child of the South Wind spying on us?!"

"What?! No! Son of Hephaestus. Friendly blacksmith, no harm to anybody!" Cal growled and put his face to Leo's.

"Smell fire," Cal said. "Fire bad."

"Oh," Leo said, his face looking nervous. "Well, my clothes are kinda singed, and I've been working with oil and-"

"No!" Zethes declared. "We  _smell_  fire on you, demigod. We assumed it was from the dragon, but the dragon is on the suitcase now, and I still smell the fire, on  _you_."

"Hey…look…I don't know-" Jason stepped forward, his coin already in his hand.

"Hey, there's been a mistake here. Leo's not a fire guy. Leo, tell them you're not a fire guy."

"Um…"

"Zethes," Zyanya said, pushing him back. "Leo means no harm to you. What can he do in your domain? Don't lose your temper, or I will have no choice but to lose mine." That was something I genuinely didn't want to see. Her losing her temper was nearly as bad as Emily. Nearly.

"Zethes?" Piper asked, trying to pull of her dazzling smile despite the cold. "We're all friends here. Stand down and we can talk this through."

"Please, Zethes," Emily added, also smiling and seemingly unaffected by nerves or the cold. "We can have dinner with you and talk this all through peacefully."

"The girls are pretty," Zethes admitted, "and of course they cannot help being attracted to my amazingness, but sadly, I cannot romance them this time." He pointed to Leo's chest and frost began spreading across his shirt.

"Zethes, Leo is just a son of Hephaestus, he means no harm and poses no threat," Zyanya said, her hand clenched. Her hand began to vibrate, but then I realized it was shimmering with energy. She and Zethes stared at each other for a moment, having a silent conversation that must've involved many threats based on the coldness in both of their eyes.

"He's right, Leo's not a threat," Jason said, hoping to avoid chaos. "Piper and Emily here are daughters of Aphrodite, I'm a son of Zeus, Veon over there-"

"What did you say?" Zethes asked, both the Boreads looking at him. "You are the son of Zeus?"

"Can't be Jason," Cal said. "Doesn't look the same." Zethes stepped forward and squinted at Jason's face.

"No, he is not  _our_  Jason. Our Jason was far more stylish. Not as stylish as me, of course, but stylish. Besides, our Jason died millennia ago."

"Wait,  _your_  Jason?" Jason realized. "You mean the original Jason? Golden Fleece guy?"

"Of course. We were his crewmates aboard the Argo, in the old times, when we were mortal demigods. Then we accepted immortality to serve our father, so I could look this good for all time, and my silly brother could enjoy hockey and pizza."

"Hockey!" Cal agreed.

"But Jason,  _our_  Jason, died a mortal death. You couldn't be him."

"I'm not," Jason agreed.

"So, destroy?" Cal asked.

"No," Zyanya said.

"If he is a son of Zeus, he could be the one we've been watching for," Zethes said regretfully, maybe because he didn't get to kill us, or that he had to agree with Zyanya.

"Watching for?" Audrey questioned. "Like a good way, or a bad way?"

"That depends on my father's will," A woman said and we looked up the staircase towards the voice. A girl in white dress stood at the top, her skin pale like the dead, but more alive, the color of snow, her hair a lush mane of black, and her eyes coffee brown. Her expression held no kindness, no smile, no expression, and I knew that she might become a problem if we got on her bad side. "Father will want to see the one called Jason, as will he wish to confirm your presence, Zyanya. You look far different than the last time we saw you."

"Aw, and I made an attempt to chose a similar face this time," She said, her voice as cold at the other woman's. Questions rushed through my head. A similar face? So what did she really look like?  _This_  time? How many faces did she have? How many secrets? Mysteries? How many hidden talents could she have? And how much of her that I believed I knew was a lie?

"Zethes, bring our guests," The woman ordered. Leo grabbed the handle of his bronze dragon suitcase, clearly not thinking about how he was going to get it up the staircase, but before he could take a step, the woman froze him with a look. Not literally, of course. "Not you, Leo Valdez." So she knew our names. That wasn't a good sign. The more your enemies knew of you, the harder it'd be to make it out of here with our skins intact.

"Why not?" Leo whined.

"You cannot be in the presence of my father. Fire and ice. Mixing them would not be wise."

"We're going together, or not at all," Jason declared, putting a hand on Leo's shoulder. The girl tilted her head, clearly used to people refusing her orders.

"He will not be harmed, unless you make trouble, Jason Grace. Calais, keep Leo Valdez here. Guard him, but do  _not_  kill him."

"Even just a little?" Cal pouted.

"No. And take care of his interesting suitcase until Father passes judgment." The others all looked to each other in silent debate, asking each other's opinion only for it to be passed to the next person. All of us were willing to resist if it meant leaving Leo alone with the psycho hockey ox dude.

"Its fine, guys," Leo said. "No sense causing trouble if we don't have to. Go on ahead."

"Listen to your friend," The woman said. "Leo Valdez will be perfectly safe. I wish I could say the same for you, son of Zeus. Now come, all of you, King Boreas is waiting." We all followed her up the stairs, hesitant about leaving Leo, but deciding Cal was the  _least_  dangerous thing in this place.

Zethes walked behind us, though without a sword, still threatening with his ability to turn you to a popsicle with just a look. Then there was the ice princess in front of us, that made some of the dead spirits I'd met seem warm and fuzzy, no pun intended. She was serious, cold, and when Jason and Piper tried holding hands, their hands suddenly burned with frost as she advised them that heat wasn't a good idea, especially when she was our best chance of staying alive.

I liked the cold, normally, as it reminded me of that soothing feeling of death, but the iciness in this place was sharp, quick, painful and stinging. It wasn't like what I had in that dream, either. That one was a slower, deeper, pressing sting, forcing not only the pain of the cold, but the pain of insanity, misery, darkness, eating away at everything I was until I wasn't there wasn't me anymore. It was slow, torturous, and it would never stop.

I shouldn't remember a dream so vividly, I never had before, but if I get lost in the memory of it, I can feel the pain once more, the creeping darkness and terror that seemed to have a mind of its own, forcing me to suffer, to understand what it was like to fear the death that I'd thought I wasn't afraid of anymore. And when I'd woken up…what I'd said…Tartarus. The pit.  _Child of Hades, beware the pit. Should you fall, you will be one with it. Live in darkness, feel their pain. Know all you do will be in vain. The dead shall scream, the living shall fall, until you hear the final call_. Now, I think I understood. If I fall, I become one with the pit of Tartarus, with all those who've fallen and suffered within it. I'll be trapped down there for eternity like a monster. The questions still remained though. Why? And what was the final call? I wanted to know, but then again, I didn't.

"So, you know all these people?" I asked Zyanya who was walking next to me.

"Yes," She said, and her voice sounded different. I realized that since we'd first met Cal and Zethes, she'd been talking in a French accent. Or maybe she had been speaking French, and I was just translating it. With the Latin I'd translated back at the camp, who knows? It was possible. "I've got a history."

"What kind of history?"

"A long one. You don't wanna know."

"Actually, I do."

"Not now, Veon."

"Then afterwards." She looked at me without turning her head, raising an eyebrow before looking forward again. That look told me she didn't plan on saying much, hoping I'd forget by the time this was over. I could read her facial expressions like a book, but apparently, everything else about her remained a mystery.

At the end of the hallway, we found ourselves in front of a set of oaken doors carved with a map of the world. In each corner was a man with a beard, blowing wind. I'd seen a map like this before, but even though it was a while ago and I didn't study the map thoroughly, I'm sure that there were four different faces, while here all four were the same, Winter, blowing ice and snow from every corner of the world. The princess turned to us, her eyes glittering like she was excited to see us anger her father and get to kill us.

"This is the throne room," She explained. Be on your best behavior, Jason Grace. And that goes for the rest of your friends too. My father can be quite…chilly. I will translate for you, and try to encourage him to hear you out. I do hope he spares you. We could have such fun." I'm guessing her definition of fun was very different from mine.

"Um, okay," Jason said. "But really, we're just here for a talk. We'll be leaving right after." The girl smiled.

"I do love heroes. So blissfully ignorant."

"Why don't you enlighten us?" Piper said, hand resting on her dagger. "If you're going to translate for us, we might as well know your name."

"I'm not surprised you don't recognize me, but not even a mention, Zyanya?"

"I thought you'd like to do the honors," Zy hissed with gritted teeth.

"I am Khione, daughter of Boreas, goddess of snow." She stirred the air with her finger, and a miniature blizzard swirled around her, big fluffy flakes as soft as cotton. "Now come. Hopefully you will survive your little talk." The doors blew open and a cold blue light spilled out of the room.

When we went in, the temperature dropped ever further, and most of us shivered as we headed in. Mist hung in the air, and our breath steamed. Along the walls, purple tapestries showed scenes of snowy forests, barren mountains, and glaciers. High above, ribbons of colored light - the aurora borealis - pulsed along the ceiling. A layer of snow covered the floor, and we all took caution while we stepped forward. All around the room stood life sized ice sculptures of warriors, some in Greek armor, some medieval, some in modern camouflage, and all frozen in various attacked positions, swords raised, guns cocked and loaded.

At least, they seemed to be statues until Jason, who was in the lead, tried to step between two Greek spearman and they moved with surprising speed, their joints cracking and spraying ice crystals as they crossed their javelins to block Jason's path. From the far end of the hall, a man's voice rang out with a French accent, but this time, it wasn't as clear cut as Zy's had been. It was much thicker, and it took me a moment to process what he'd said.

" _Let them pass. They are not to be harmed yet._ " The two ice guards uncrossed their javelins.

"It's fine," Khione said. "My father has ordered them not to kill you just yet."

"Super," Jason said.

"Keep moving, Jason Junior," Zethes said.

"Don't call me that."

"My father is not a patient man, and the beautiful Piper is losing her magic hairdo very fast. Perhaps I can lend her and this other woman something from my wide assortment of hair products."

"Uh, thank you," Emily said.

We continued forward and the mist parted to reveal a man on an ice throne. He was sturdily built, dressed in a stylish white suit that seemed to be woven from snow, dark purple wings, and long hair and a shaggy beard that were encrusted with icicles. He gave off a serious and cold expression, but his eyes seemed warmer than his daughter's (granted I think he'd take that as an insult).

" _Welcome,_ " He said in his thick French accent and I tried to keep up with him while simultaneously following the conversation. " _I am Boreas the King. And you?_ " Khione looked like she was about to speak, and I realized he had been speaking French and I'd just translated. It was slow and painful, but I did it. Then, Piper stepped forward and interrupted Khione.

" _Your majesty,_ " Piper said in the same French accent. " _I am Piper McLean. And this is Jason, son of Zeus._ "

" _I am Emily,_ " Emily said, also in French. " _This is Audrey, daughter of Poseidon._ "

" _I am Zytaveon,_ " I tried. The more than I concentrated on French, the easier the syllables came to my mouth. " _I am the son of Hades._ "

" _Boreas, I see you're doing well,_ " Zyanya said. The king smiled.

" _Ah, you all know French! Very good! And Zyanya, it seems it really is you. You've been very quiet for the past couple decades._ " She smiled but said nothing.

"What the heck is going on?" Audrey asked.

"Piper, you speak French?" Jason asked. Piper frowned.

"No, why?" She asked in English.

"You just spoke French.  _All_  of you. Well, not Audrey."

"I can barely speak a proper sentence in Spanish, let alone French," Audrey declared.

"We did?" Piper asked, blinking.

" _You can translate French and English?_ " The king asked.

" _Yes, your majesty,_ " Piper said, realizing she could. The king clapped his hands, obviously delighted.

" _Ah, so you two are daughters of Aphrodite,_ " The king explained. " _As such, you and this Emily can speak French, the language of love. As for you, son of Hades…_ " His eyes went to me and I suddenly wanted to shrivel up and disappear into the shadows. " _Well, in any case, it means Khione will no longer be required to translate._ " He shooed his daughter away and she looked miffed.

"The king says-"

"That since Emily and Piper are daughters of Aphrodite, they can naturally speak the language of love," I quickly interrupted. "He says Khione won't have to translate now." I made sure not to mention my being able to translate, and hopefully getting the subject off of that for now so I could ask Zyanya if she knew anything later. Behind us, Zethes snorted and Khione shot him a murderous look before bowing stiffly at her father and taking a step back. The king looked to Jason and he bowed, hoping not to get on his bad side too soon.

"You Majesty, I'm Jason Grace," He said, and I realized that we now knew Jason's last name thanks to Khione. "Thank you for, uh, not killing us. May I ask, why does a Greek god speak French?" We all looked to each other and decided Piper would do the translating for Jason, Emily would take Audrey, and the Zyanya and I would speak only if we wanted to say something ourselves.

"He speaks the language of his country," Piper told Jason after a quick exchange with the king. "He says all gods do, but most Greek gods speak English as they now reside in the United States. Boreas, however, was never welcomed in their realm, and his domain was always far to the north. These days, he like Quebec, so he speaks French." The king said something else, and Piper turned pale, Emily just staring. I was used to things like this, so I took over instead.

"He has orders to kill us," I explained instead. I mean it wasn't like we were going to walk out of this place without trouble. Khione was not someone I wanted to fight, even with the new power I'd gained after my claiming, and even with all of us, I doubted we'd be able to brute force our escape, especially being that we were in the throne room of a god. Then I looked to Zyanya and realized she knew Boreas and his children previous, and she wouldn't have brought us here unless she had some kind of plan. She was practically a god herself, right? She said she was the daughter of…Zenobia, was it? She did  _look_  like a goddess, even before her personality change, what with her warm smile and beautifully dark scowl that made me want to kiss her.  _What?_

"My lord Aeolus has commanded it," The king said in heavily accented English and I snapped out of my thoughts, hoping the cold would cover the excuse for my blushing. Where had  _that_  come from?

The king stepped down from his throne, his wings furled against his back, and as he approached, Khione and Zethes bowed, the rest of us following their lead, even Zy, but with just the hint of annoyance that she was forced to do so. I didn't know her very well now that she'd changed, but if I was to assume she and Lucy had similar facial expressions, I believe she's gonna kill someone for having to bow down to someone that she didn't consider a superior. And that was so cute.  _Shut it brain, what is wrong with you today?!_  But her Asian features were accentuated by this new godly change, her emotions guarded, her anger darkened in a way only a being of death could properly appreciate. And I certainly did.  _Stop it!_  I ordered and focused on the conversation again.

"I shall deign to speak your language, as you have you have honored mine," Boreas said. "Always have I had a fondness for the children of Aphrodite. As for you, Jason Grace, my master Aeolus would not expect me to kill a son of Lord Zeus…without first hearing you out." Jason tensed and I could see him processing the odds of making a break for it if we needed to fight, and even with all of us, and Zyanya, the odds were still low. We'd walked into the middle of a death trap, and we needed to play our cards right if we were going to get out alive.

"Isn't Aeolus the master of the winds?" Jason asked. "Why would he wish us dead?"

"You are demigods." Yeah, that explained everything, bud. Thanks. "Aeolus's job is to contain the winds, and demigods have always caused much headache. They ask him for favors, they unleash the winds and cause chaos, but the final insult was the battle with Typhon last summer…" He waved his hand and a sheet of ice like a flat-screen TV appeared in the air, images of a battle flickering across the screen. There was a giant wrapped in storm clouds, wading across a river toward the Manhattan skyline. Tiny glowing figures that appeared to be gods were swarming around him like angry wasps, pounding the monster with lightning and fire. Finally the river erupted in a massive whirlpool, and the smoky form sank beneath the waves and disappeared.

"The storm giant, Typhon," Zyanya explained. "The first time the gods defeated him, eons ago, he didn't die quietly. His death released a host of storm spirits, winds that answered to no one. It was Aeolus's job to track them down, as he must keep the winds under control, and imprison them in his fortress, but the other gods didn't help. They didn't even apologize for the inconvenience. It took Aeolus centuries to track down all the storm spirits, and it was naturally irritating. I attempted to gather the ones that I crossed paths with on accident, but even then it was going to be a tedious task no matter what." So she could capture and imprison wild storm spirits? I mentally added that to the list of things she can do. "Then, last summer, Typhon was defeated again…"

"And his death released another wave of venti," Jason concluded, "Which made Aeolus even angrier."

" _It is so,_ " Boreas agreed in French with a sigh.

"But Your Majesty," Emily said. "Didn't the gods  _have_  to defeat Typhon? If they didn't, he may have destroyed Olympus. I agree, what the other gods did was cruel and unfair, far from godly, but why punish demigods?" The kind shrugged.

"Aeolus cannot take his anger out on the gods directly. They are his bosses, and are very powerful, so he gets even with demigods who helped them in the war. He issued us orders to no longer tolerate demigods who come to us for aid. We are to crush your little mortal faces." He said that so calmly that I could almost appreciate the guy. The son of Hades in me liked it when someone talked about death so simply. Not sinisterly, not like he was getting any satisfaction or pleasure from it, but more like it was just another topic of conversation.  _Did you watch that football game yesterday? Yeah, we won 35 to 14! Hey, by the way, I'm gonna crush your mortal face now_. I didn't know why I found it so enjoyable, and it was probably a habit I should be trying to break, but so far, no luck.

"That sounds…extreme," Jason said. Everyone was so awkward about the topic of dying that it kinda made me feel like a madman, but again, habit ain't leaving me anytime soon. "But you're not going to crush our faces yet, right? You're going to listen to us first, 'cause once you hear about this quest we're-"

"Yes, yes, Aeolus told me that a son of Zeus may seek my aid and if this happened I should listen to you before I destroy you, as you might - how did he put it? - make all our lives very interesting. I am only obligated to  _listen_ , however, and after that, I am free to pass judgment as I see fit. But I  _will_  listen first, and Khione wishes this also. It may be that we will not kill you."

"Gee, thanks," Jason said.

"Do not thank me," Boreas said smiling. "There are many ways you could make our lives interesting. Sometimes we keep demigods for our amusement, as you can see." He gestured to the various ice statues. You mean these guys were  _alive?_  I mean I could sense when someone had  _recently_  died and I could sense someone who was dead and buried under the ground (graveyards were nice and calming when I sensed their death) but these guys seemed to be just above the threshold of death, now that I realized it. They weren't able to die, but they were close enough that I thought they were.

"You mean…they're all demigods…?" Piper asked. "Frozen demigods…? They're alive?"

"An interesting question," Boreas said, as though he'd never thought about it before. "They do not move unless they are obeying my orders. The rest of the time, they are merely frozen. Unless they were to melt of course, in which case, that would make a very big mess."

"My father gives me such lovely presents," Khione said, putting a cold finger behind Jason's neck. Then I tensed as she put one on mine. "Join our court, and perhaps I'll let your friends go."

"What?" Zethes broke in. "If Khione gets those two, I deserve the girls! Khione always gets more presents!"

"Now, children, our guests will think you are spoiled!" Boreas said sternly. "Besides, you are moving too fast. We have not ever heard the demigod's story yet. Then we shall decide what we are to do with them. Please, Jason Grace, entertain us." But Jason was frozen, his brain shutting down from nerves and the realization that we may not make it out of here alive. But I was more focused on Khione staring at me and Jason like she was going to eat us.

She purred and began to stroke my neck like a pet, her cold fingers sending a chill down my spine that reminded me of that dream. The icy cold wasn't the same as that nightmare, but even ice can burn when cold enough. I was going to jump away, smack her wrist, and tell her a couple curse worse, I was so angry (to cover my being terrified, of course) but her wrist was grabbed by someone else and jerked away with force and a bone cracking sound.

"Back. Off." I turned to see Zy had grabbed the ice queen's wrist and making it clear she was gripping it with enough force to crush it had Khione not been a goddess. My experience in choir helped me pick out that there was a slight change in her voice, and I realized it sounded more like Lucy's than Zyanya's now, and yes, I had learned the difference. I'd had years listening to Lucy's voice, and as a choir singer, I could pick it out really well. Her other hand was still on Jason's but then electricity sparked across his skin. I saw Zy's eyes shift to Jason for a moment before there was a loud  _pop_  and Khione went flying backwards, skidding across the floor, as Zy had let her go right before Jason zapped her.

"That is good!" Zethes laughed. "I'm glad you did that even if I have to kill you now." For a moment, Khione was too stunned to react, but then the air around her began to swirl with a micro-blizzard.

"You dare-!"

"Stop!" Jason ordered sternly. "You are not going to kill us, and you are not going to keep us. We are on a quest for the queen of the gods herself, so unless you want Hera busting down your doors, you're going to let us go." He sounded pretty confident, even if I could guess he was just as terrified as I had been, even if it was for different reasons. The ice queen's blizzard stopped and Zethes relaxed from his tense battle position, looking uncertainly at their father.

"Hmm," Boreas said, though I couldn't tell if he was amused or angered. "A son of Zeus, favored by Hera? This is a first, no doubt. Tell your story." He froze again, but this time Piper saved him. She curtsied with poise despite the situation and then explained the story of the Grand Canyon, how they'd been attacked by this storm spirit in disguise as a guy named Dylan before their Coach Hedge, who was a satyr and the guy assigned to protect them and bring them to Camp Half-Blood, was taken away.

"We merely seek guidance," Piper concluded. "These storm spirits attacked us and they're working for some evil mistress. If we can find them, we may be able to find Hera." The king stroked his icicle beard. Outside, night had fallen and the only light came from the aurora borealis overhead, washing everything in red and blue. The darkness gave me comfort, and I was adjusting to the cold of the room by now so that it was beginning to feel similar to that death cold I liked, so I was calming down.

"I know of these storm spirits, where they are kept, and of the prisoner they took," Boreas said.

"You mean Coach Hedge?" Jason asked. "He's alive?"

"For now," He said, waving aside the question. "But the one who controls these storm winds…it would be madness to oppose her. You would be better off staying here frozen as statues than defy her."

"But Hera's in trouble," Audrey said. "In three days she's going to be consumed or destroyed or something and a giant is going to rise."

"Yes. Many horrible things are waking, and even my children do not tell me all the news they should. The Great Stirring of monsters that began with Kronos - your father Zeus foolishly believed it would end when the Titans were defeated. But just as it was before, so it is now. The final battle us yet to come, and the one who will wake is more terrible than any Titan. Storm spirits are only the beginning. The earth has many more horrors to yield up, and when the monsters no longer stay in Tartarus, and the souls are no longer confined to Hades…Olympus has good reason to fear. You should know, child of death and goddess of power." Tartarus. When the monsters no longer stay in Tartarus and the souls are no longer confined to Hades…After my dream, Hades' words came back to me in a new light. He hadn't been exaggerating when he told me things were going to get worse.

"Please, Your Majesty," Emily said. "If you tell us where the storm spirits are, we can capture them and bring them to Aeolus in your name. You'd look good in front of your boss, Aeolus may pardon us and other demigods, even if under an agreement that we must do something in return for every favor we ask, and we could even rescue this Gleeson Hedge. Everyone wins."

"She's pretty…" Zethes muttered. "I mean she's right."

"Father, don't listen to her," Khione said. "She's a child of Aphrodite! You  _dare_  charm speak a god?! Freeze her now!"

"Please, miss Khione, I hold no power over charm speak. I merely wish to avoid conflict and get the best outcome for all of us." Jason's hand slipped into his pocket, and I knew he was ready for a fight if need be. The movement caught Boreas's eye.

"What is that on your forearm, demigod?" He asked Jason. Jason realized the sleeve of his jacket had been pushed up, revealing the edge of his tattoo. Reluctantly, he showed Boreas his marks. The god's eyes widened and Khione actually hissed and stepped away.

Then, something unexpected happened to Boreas. He laughed so loudly an icicle cracked from the ceiling and crashed next to his throne, and his form began to flicker. His beard disappeared, he grew taller and thinner, and his clothes changed to a Roman toga, lined with purple. His head was crowned with a frosty laurel wreath, and a Gladius - a Roman sword like Jason's - hung at his side.

"Aquilon," Jason muttered, though he didn't look like he remembered where he got the name. The god inclined his head.

"You recognize me better in this form, yes?" He asked. "And yet you said you came from Camp Half-Blood?"

"Uh…yes, sir."

"And Hera sent you here, no?" His eyes were full of mirth. "I understand now. Oh, she plays a dangerous game. Bold, but dangerous! No wonder Olympus is closed. They must be trembling at the gamble she has taken. And you, Zyanya. You have been silent for near two decades now. Not long in the life of a god, but long enough to be noticed as these dark times approach. And now you have come out once more from the gamble Hera has taken. Oh, she's putting much on the table here."

"What's happened?" Piper asked. "Why did Boreas change? What's going on?"

"It's his Roman form," Jason said. "But what's going on, I don't know." The god laughed.

"No, I'm sure you don't. I'm sure there are reasons for that. This should be very interesting to watch."

"Does that mean you'll let us go?" Piper asked.

"My dear, there is no reason for me to kill you. If Hera's plans fail, which I think they will, you will tear each other apart anyway. Aeolus will never have to worry about demigods again."

"A Roman, all right," Zyanya muttered, a slight smirk on her face. I had to admit, the logic of not killing someone because they're being alive will make their deaths so much worse works to that dark part of me (once again, trying to break the habit).

"I don't suppose you could explain?" Jason asked.

"Oh perish the thought!" Aquilon said. "I'm not a fool. It is not for me to interfere in Hera's plans like Zyanya over there. No wonder she took your memory." He chuckled at the idea of demigods tearing each other apart. "You know, I have a reputation as a helpful wind god, and unlike my brethren, I've been known to fall in love with mortals. Why, my sons Zethes and Calais started as demigods-"

"Which explains why their idiots," Khione interrupted.

"Stop it!" Zethes growled. "Just because you were born a full goddess-!"

"Both of you, freeze," Aquilon ordered. Apparently that word held a lot of weight in this family because the two froze, absolutely still. I wondered what it was like, growing up with your father like this, in their palace and by their side every day, them switching their personality every now and then, you being scolded as though you were a normal family. "Now, as I was saying, I have a good reputation, but it is rare that Boreas plays an important role in the affairs of the gods. I sit here in my palace at the edge of civilization, and so rarely have amusements. Why, even that fool Notus, the South Wind, gets spring break in Cancún. What do I get? A winter festival with naked Québécois rolling around in the snow!"

"I like the winter festival," Zethes muttered.

"My point," Aquilon snapped, "is that I now have a chance to be the center. Oh, yes, I will let you go on this quest, find your storm spirits in the windy city, of course, Chicago-"

"Father!" Khione protested, but he ignored his daughter.

"If you can capture the winds, you may be able to gain safe entrance to the court of Aeolus. If by some miracle you succeed, be sure to tell him you captured the winds on my orders."

"Of course, sir!" Emily said bowing and smiling gratefully.

"So Chicago is where we'll find this lady who's controlling the winds?" Jason asked. "She's the one who's trapped Hera?"

"Ah, those are two different questions, son of Jupiter." Son of Jupiter, not Zeus. I guess if he's in his Roman form he'll use only Roman names, but still… "The one who controls the winds, you will indeed find her in Chicago, but  _she_  is only a servant - a servant who is likely to destroy you. If you succeed against her and take the winds, then you may go to Aeolus. Only he has knowledge of all the winds on the earth. All secrets come to his fortress eventually. If anyone can tell you where Hera is imprisoned, it is Aeolus. As for whom you will meet when you finally find Hera's cage…truly, if I told you, you would beg me to freeze you. Besides, I won't tell you anything Zyanya doesn't feel is right to share yet." We looked to her and she had her arms crossed in thought.

"Father, you can't simply let them-" Khione began.

"I can do what I like, or am I not still the master here?" He asked, his voice hardening. Based on the looks they had, there was something going on between them. Her eyes flashed with anger, but still she clenched her teeth.

"As you wish, Father."

"Now go, demigods, before I change my mind. Zethes, escort them out safely." We all bowed before the god of the North Wind dissolved into mist. Back at the entry hall, Cal and Leo were waiting for them. Leo looked cold, but otherwise unharmed. He'd even gotten cleaned up, his clothes newly washed like he'd used the hotel's valet service. Festus the dragon was back normal form, snorting fire over his scales to keep himself defrosted.

As we walked down the stairs, I noticed Leo staring and Khione and rolled my eyes. He started combing his hair back and I smiled at the guy's confidence, stupid and idiotic as it were. I made a mental note to warn him about her later. At the bottom, Khione turned to us, very unhappy, especially at Piper and Emily.

"You may have fooled my father, but you have not fooled me. We are not done. I will see you all as statues in the throne room soon enough."

"My apologies, miss Khione," Emily said smiling, and I smiled too at her inability to take an insult.

"Boreas is right," Jason said. "You're a spoiled ice princess. See you around." Khione's eyes flashed pure white in furry at her inability to influence us, and with Emily and the fact that we'd gotten Aquilon/Boreas's trust behind me, I felt a lot calmer. She stomped up the stairs, turning into a blizzard and disappearing half way up.

"Be careful," Zethes said. "She never forgets someone making a fool of her."

"Bad sister," Cal agreed.

"She's a goddess of snow," Jason said. "What's she going to do? Throw snowballs at me?" But we all knew that she could do much worse.

"What happened up there?" Leo asked. "You guys made her mad? Dude! That was my prom date!"

"We'll explain later," Piper said, glancing at Jason and clearly wanting him to explain. Jason looked away, hiding how nervous he was.

"Yeah, we'll explain later," He said.

"Be careful pretty girls," Zethes said. "The winds between here and Chicago are bad-tempered, and many other evil things are stirring. I am sorry you will not be staying. You would make lovely ice statues in which I could check my reflection."

"Thanks, but I'd sooner play hockey with Cal," Piper said.

"Hockey?" Cal asked, his eyes lighting up.

"Joking," Piper said. "And the storm winds aren't our problem, are they?"

"Oh no, something else," Zethes agreed. "Something worse."

"Worse," Cal echoed.

"Can you tell me?" Piper asked, but this time her charm didn't work.

"Ask Aeolus what is worse," Zethes said darkly as the hanger doors opened for us to leave. "He knows. Good luck."

"Don't get destroyed," Cal said, patting Leo on the shoulder. "Next time - pizza. Hockey."

"Come on guys," Jason said, staring out at the dark, eager to leave this place even if it may be the most hospitable place we'd see for a while. "Let's go to Chicago and try not to get destroyed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've made it this far, I congratulate you and thank you for reading. Again, please leave comments so I can make this story as enjoyable as possible to the readers.


	11. Falling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will not be able to make this chapter very long, as I have a choir concert in a few (at least at the moment when I'm typing this) but I hope I make it enjoyable.

First Person: Emily

"I can't believe you guys can all speak French," Audrey said.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Don't apologize, Em, for dad's sake. I just wonder why Veon can speak French too, and that whole Latin thing back at the camp." I looked behind Audrey, sitting in front of her on the dragon but turned around, relying on the safety harness and Audrey should something go wrong, but it was a relatively calm flight. Veon was turned around as well, talking to Zyanya, a little farther down the dragon and just out of earshot. At the front of the dragon, behind me, it was quiet in the group of three at the front, as Leo wasn't talking about his time in the palace, and Piper had fallen asleep on Jason's chest.

"Is it just me and my Aphrodite thing, or are they actually making progress?" I asked, looking to Veon and Zy. Audrey turned around too to look.

"It's just you. They're literally scowling at each other right now."

"I thought that was their idea of getting along. Son of Hades, goddess of…scowling, I guess."

"Gotta admit, you have a point. I wonder what other powers I have. Veon's so far got like five."

"Languages, clothes, his lance, which I guess is kinda a power, his shadow power thing and his ability to turn stuff to ash."

"And what are the odds there are more to come? He's a freaking son of Hades!"

"Well you're a daughter of Poseidon."

"Well so far everyone else seems to be having a great time while I just got boom, trident and done. Nothing's changed, I don't feel any more powerful, and I haven't found any unlocked abilities. I mean, I guess I did get my powers a bit early in life, but that wasn't the only thing I have, was it? Water bending is cool, don't get me wrong, but now everyone seems to have multiple powers."

"It not really multiple powers, Audrey, at least I don't think so. I think it's just taking your power and being…creative with it. If you can control water, does that mean you can like, turn it to steam and evaporate it, or freeze it and vice versa? You just need some time to practice, Audrey. It's only been a day. And hey, in one night you learned a lot about Festus and how to work him."

"Well, it's not like I've learned much more than how to hotwire a car. What we did to Festus was mostly Leo working and me just doing what he said to do. I wasn't even focusing on what he was saying as though I was gonna have to take a test on it. Just the suitcase thing was a memorable accomplishment when we'd pressed the button, having been pressing many all night to see what this bad boy can do. When we get back after this thing to Camp Half-Blood, I look forward to what all of the Hephaestus kids can do if Leo is any indication of their skills. Maybe they can completely fix the control disk in Festus's head so he won't have all these problems."

"But wouldn't that reset his memory like in WALL-E?"

"He got his memory back eventually."

"That's just because he was in love with Eve, or Eva, as he called her."

"Well, I'm sure you could snap him out of any memory loss with that Aphrodite charm of yours."

"Does it even work on artificial beings?"

"Only one way to find out, but you seem to have done well so far." Just as she said that, Festus began to shudder and creek before we began to drop. It was like in the cartoons when the person hung in the air a moment before gravity suddenly had a grab on her, because Festus was much heavier and larger than the rest of us and fell out from under us much faster as we plummeted. I think Audrey and I screamed, but any sound was lost in the wind as we began speeding to terminal velocity, city lights below us, glimmering in the early dawn.

I managed to grab onto Audrey's hand as we fell, but saw Leo go shooting past us, screaming frantically and grabbing at the clouds. I missed his hand, and before I could do anything else he was too far out of reach. Audrey and I spread our arms and legs in the skydiver position like we'd seen on TV, slowing our decent as much as we were going to be able to.

Jason grabbed ahold of Piper, apparently having some kind of control over the winds. I guess Audrey was right when she said everyone had multiple abilities based on their parents, Jason's being lightning and wind. I could calm people down and influence niceness, not to mention I was invincible, Veon's powers had been previously discussed, Piper officially had the ability to charm speak and could speak French, Leo was a mechanic and had fire power, quite literally, and Zyanya was just a world of power and mysteries. But Audrey…she had only shown that she could manipulate water (not exactly something to be ashamed of, of course) but nothing else. Time would reveal things. Audrey had power, I knew it, and all she needed to do was believe she could unlock it.

Audrey managed to unscrew the lid of her water bottle with her free hand and the cap went flying away as she manipulated the water out in a snake like fashion. The wind caused the water to ripple, but she adjusted to it and made sure she didn't lose a single drop. She threw her hand out to the side and managed to keep the water together despite the wind and wrapped it around Veon's wrist like a rope, pulling him closer. Zyanya was nowhere to be seen despite the fact that the two had been together when the dragon had shut down.

Jason had used the winds to reach Leo, who was pointing and saying something. I looked to where he was pointing and saw Festus plummeting through the sky below us, spinning out of control, its wings limp, fire flickering in its mouth like a badly wired light bulb. Then I noticed a figure on his back that could only be Zy. She had managed to hold on and was climbing up the back of the dragon as it fell. She managed to make it to the head, but the dragon fell behind a warehouse complex before there was an explosion. A fireball rolled into the sky and I saw Leo squirming and screaming in panic. I hoped Festus was all right, and I was just as worried as Leo about the dragon, but we had our own problems.

"This is gonna be rough!" Veon shouted, but I could barely hear him over the wind, even as the three of us huddled together in a triangle to speak.

"Got a plan?!" Audrey shouted.

"Maybe! It's a long shot, and if I time it wrong I will most likely shatter every bone in my arm! Not to mention all of us will die from the impact! That too!"

"If you know what you're planning, you can do it!" I encouraged. Below us, Jason was being weighed down by Piper and Leo's extra weight, and with his memories lost to the point that he couldn't remember his last name yesterday, I'm guessing that even if he was a master of the winds before, he wasn't at the moment. We had no choice but to try and save ourselves, or take away what little control Jason currently had. They were hovering slowly for a moment before plummeting at least a hundred feet again, like going down the world's largest and bumpiest staircase.

Below, I could see the factory complex below, warehouses, smoke stacks, barbed-wire fences, and parking lots lined with snow-covered vehicles. And I could see that Jason's strength was leaving him, and we were still high enough that hitting the ground would turn us into roadkill - or skykill, I guess. Jason managed to hover them for the last stretch before they fell through the roof of the largest warehouse. Keeping positive, I was sure Jason had managed to slow their decent enough that they may be a little hurt, but they'd be alive. We, however, didn't have that luxury.

Not only were we going to hit the pavement, not a warehouse, but we didn't even have Jason to  _slow_  our decent, which would've helped even if he couldn't stop it completely. Instead, Veon held his arm out towards the ground, ordering Audrey and I behind him so we fell single file. Luckily, we were in the order of our weight, so it wasn't hard to keep Veon, who weighed the most as a male, falling the fastest, even if it definitely took some concentration.

The ground beneath us began to come closer, and suddenly my stomach tightened. We might die here. When was the last time I'd talked to my parents? I'd just left with Nico that day to be taken to Camp Half-Blood after the attack on the school. My parents must be worried sick about me. My little brother could be a pain, my friends could be idiots, but the thought that I'd never be able to see them again, even if I did make it out of this alive, dawned on me. I couldn't ever go back to them now that I was officially a demigod, not without bringing trouble.

Veon held his hand towards the ground and I realized his plan. He had the ability to teleport using the shadows, and as it was dawn, there were plenty at the moment, enough that we were falling right above one. But could Veon really turn us  _all_  to shadows? And do it in the split second before his hand was…?  _If I time it wrong I will most likely shatter every bone in my arm_. My eyes widened, but I knew I had to stay positive. If anyone could do it, it was my friend. Still, I tightened my grip on Audrey's hand and based on her reaction I could tell she'd figured out his plan as well.

He could do this, and we'd be with him whether he succeeded or failed, quite literally. We approached the ground ever faster, and my body tensed, even though I knew I wouldn't be able to land the fall. But wait…I was invincible…I may be able to survive the impact…but Audrey and Veon…Oh, gods, if Veon failed, they'd both die, but I wouldn't. If they were to die, I'd never be able to go on without them, especially after all we'd been through.  _Smile, Emily. Stay positive. If you don't, no one else will_. My friends will make it out alive, Veon is strong enough to do this, and I would  _not_  be losing my friends today!

Veon hit the ground first, his arm outstretched to touch the shadow. Then my body exploded. I couldn't feel my limps anymore, and anything I could feel was tingling in that way that made you wanna throw up (but I couldn't feel anything in my stomach or throat to throw up anyway). My head spun and it felt like my brain was being pulled out of my skull, but then eventually it stopped. I found myself on my back, the churning in my stomach fading and the throbbing in my head subsiding. I sat up, my body trembling from exhaustion like I'd just run a mile in the cold rain, but I was recovering.

"Woo! Never wanna do  _that_  again…" Audrey muttered. She sat up, before instantly regretting it as her hand went to her mouth. She swallowed before any of her last meal (a sandwich provided by Leo's magic infinite tool belt) came out to see daylight again, and stayed still as she regained her composure. "Where's old Zyta?" I looked around to find him unconscious a few feet away.

"Veon! Ha! You did-!" But when I reached to try and shake him awake, my hand went straight through like he was a ghost. I shrieked and jumped back, Audrey slowly walking up to try and poke him herself. Her hand went through him too, and he flickered like a holographic image.

"Uh, is that normal?"

"H-How am I supposed to know…?!" I responded, still spooked.

"Allow me," Zyanya said. We looked to see her walking up, brushing her jacket off, as it was covered in soot and smoke from the explosion, but otherwise, she was okay. She walked up to Veon and kneeled down next to him, holding her hands out as they began to glow with white energy. She put her hands around Veon's head, able to touch him, leaning her head down so their foreheads met. Then, she began to sing a hymn that sounded Japanese. It was slow and soothing, and she held out many notes, her voice projecting outwards as though it were coming from all around us.

" _Ieyui, Nobomeno, Renmiri, Yojuyogo. Hasatekanae, Kutamae._ " She repeated the hymn twice more, the glow from her hands spreading to Veon's body. By the time she finished the third cycle, Veon opened his eyes and groaned.

"What happened?" He muttered.

"You were a brave idiot," Zyanya said. "Shadow traveling with two people, no experience, and hitting the ground at terminal velocity nearly killed you, dummy. And, it broke your wrist." She grabbed his right hand and jerked it forcefully up as proof, and he hissed in pain, biting his lip as he muffled a scream. She put her other hand around his wrist, a bit more gentle this time, as her hand glowed light blue this time. There was a light hum that kinda sounded like someone going "shhh" along with the light popping of bones. Once the light faded, she released his wrist and he looked to it, shaking it slowly in test. She stood and offered a hand, allowing him to test his hand as she pulled him to his feet.

"I had no other choice as we were about to go splat on the pavement."

"I was ready to catch you, had you all still been in your skydiving position. In the single-file line you had been falling in, you would've crashed into each other and broken many things had I tried to interfere by holding out an energy-net. You were moving too fast for simple telepathy because of inertia, so I planned to do the best with what I had, and you ruined it. In any case, we seem to have landed in Detroit, maybe three-quarters of the way from Quebec to Chicago. We'd best find the others. They've survived the fall, but I have a feeling Festus didn't malfunction by accident. To the careful observer, it was almost as if he'd hit an invisible wall and then suddenly began to fall. The sooner we get the others, get Festus up and running and get out, the better."

"Where'd the dragon land?"

"Well…a line of Porta-Potties, actually. Come on."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To anyone curious, the hymn Zyanya sang as a healing song is the Hymn of the Fayth from Final Fantasy X. The songs from the Final Fantasy series are my favorite, but I have no intention of making this story in particular a crossover, she just likes the song and utilizes it for her powers.
> 
> Please review with suggestions and tips so I can make this the best story for readers who follow the story or just random people who stumble across it.


	12. A Different Perspective

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter, at least compared to some of my other chapters, but I hope I make it interesting for readers.

First Person: Audrey

Zyanya walked off and we followed to find a line of blue plastic boxes that had been set up in the factory yard, Festus having crushed them all. Fortunately, they hadn't been used in a long time, and the fireball from the crash had incinerated most of the contents, but there were still some pretty gross and smelly chemicals leaking out of the wreckage, and all of us held our noses as we made our way to Festus. Heavy snow was coming down, but the dragon's hide was still steaming hot.

"Hey guys!" Leo called. He ran up to us from the warehouses. "You found Festus! He's okay, right?"

"Fine, as far as I can see," Zyanya said, climbing up on the dragon. "Leo, help me run diagnostics. Your dad's a friend, but I'm not an expert with this stuff. See what you can help me with." Leo obliged, the heat from Festus not affecting him. As Leo examined Festus, a scowl formed and then grew.

"He's perfectly fine! His body isn't even dented from the fall, and the fireball had just been from built up gasses in the toilets! Even his wings are okay. Nothing is broken and there's no reason he should've stopped. So this  _isn't_  my fault! Man, Festus, you're making me look bad!"

"Uh, Leo, check this out," Zy said, calling him over to look at the control panel on the dragon's head."

"Oh, Festus, what the heck? The wiring's completely frozen over! I  _know_  it was okay yesterday. Right? Right?! And it should be too hot in the head for  _any_  ice to form."

"Looks like the ice caused the wiring to overload and char the control disk," Zy said, reaching in a pulling it out. "I'll see what I can do, but the thing is old and enchanted with magic I don't understand. If I knew what I was working with, maybe I could repair it completely, but I wasn't present when the disk was made." She put her hand in the dragon's head and there was a slight glow. "There, the dragon's head is unfrozen. Leo, see if you can fix anything else. You guys, try and keep Festus from freezing over. He may be steaming now, but the temp and the fact that Festus isn't active means he's gonna cool over soon."

"What can we do?" Emily asked.

"Audrey, can you turn the flakes to water and keep them away?"

"Uh, I've never really tried before."

"Well, good time to get started. You were claimed, remember? This should be child's play for someone like you. Veon, Emily, follow Leo's orders to help fix the dragon. Check for anything wrong and report anything. I'm gonna see if I can't fix this disk." Leo began to mess with the dragon's head while Veon and Emily looked over the dragon. I was able to concentrate on the water droplets the moment the snow turned to water, but when it turned to steam, I lost the connection again. It angered me, how the snow was a more fuzzy connection, while the steam was a little slicker, neither following my orders. Water was adhesive, thick, strong, yet smooth, flexible and moldable. It was a comfortable connection, but though I could feel the ice and steam, I couldn't grab onto them and control them.

I clenched my fists and tried to increase the connection further, but it was like a new subject in math and the two different forms of water slipped from my mind and I just couldn't comprehend the new feeling. I didn't know what it was supposed to feel like in order to control them, so I didn't exactly know what I was supposed to be doing. I hated it when my math teachers said, "you're not supposed to know how to do it, but try it anyway." There's no freaking point in doing something if you don't know how! I'd usually just stare at the question, not knowing where to begin, how to get something from it, or where I was supposed to end. Just tell me how to do it, and I'll commit it to memory over time and repetition, but you can't just say "go ahead and do it" when I don't know what I'm supposed to do, or what I was supposed to be looking for as an outcome. It's not as easy as you think, math teachers!

But this wasn't math, and I wasn't eventually going to get the answers so that I could adjust my way of thinking. I had to use the hit and miss method, trying all kinds of angles and trying to adjust my frequency of control to get the steam and ice to obey. But I could feel the connection. Before my claiming, I couldn't feel the ice or the steam, whether I could control them or not. Now, I felt more detail in the feelings from the two.

I imagined a dial and then slowly began to turn it, feeling a slight resistance as my powers began to mold to a different control, like I was stretching a rubber band further and further. The tension that I got usually helped me pull and push the water to my will, and the tension had grown weaker and weaker as water had grown easier to control over the years, but now I thought. What if I went beyond that tension of the rubber band, beyond just controlling water in its liquid state?

I pushed further, feeling the tension resist, but I didn't give in and clenched my teeth as I felt the rubber band reaching its limit. And I grunted slightly before pushing ever further, and suddenly I felt it snap. The snow and steam all froze, and it was almost creepy how easy it was now. I could feel them. They were lighter than water, slicker (the steam more than the ice), but I could push and pull them all the same. Ice should've been heavier than water, required more force in the same way steam required less, but since these were only snowflakes, they were easier to move around, a little more resistance than the steam.

I waved my hand, testing the feeling, and the snowflakes around us flew around in a dome, like we were in one of those observatory things with the screen above you playing the movie about stars and such. But I could  _feel_  it, I could  _control_  it. It was amazing, like learning to control water all over again. Feeling the freedom of a new power, being able to bend something to your will. The control was still a bit slippery, but I'd learn. The steam moved with more speed than I anticipated, like a computer mouse with the sensitivity settings cranked to the max, but I adjusted to it and was more careful in moving it.

I felt the snow wanting to melt, and the steam wanting to disperse into the air and cool to normal temperatures, or at least the temperature of the air around us, but I kept my hold on them. It was like holding a slippery bar of soap, but I just had to be careful and I could keep them in their state. I made sure than any snowflakes that came down stayed away in a dome like shape, and was even able to warm the moisture in the air around Festus since the humidity was high at the moment.

I couldn't believe I was so free with my powers. I could do so much, and ideas filled my mind. Emily was right. You were just being creative with your powers, stretching them to their limits. Ice and steam were just different forms of water, and now I could control them too. Maybe if I try later, I could push my powers further and even pull water out of thin air someday. That would be helpful if my water bottle wasn't enough or it was empty and I was in a barren landscape. Emily smiled and gave a thumbs-up, and I had never been happier.

The powers everyone had were just extensions of their base abilities, stretching them farther than simple thinking. I hadn't believed there could be anything other than controlling water. It was base, and at the most I thought I could just control other liquids, but now I wasn't limited to liquids. I couldn't do telepathy, and was limited to ice or steam, but still, my mind opened up like it never had before, and I wondered why I hadn't opened up to these powers before. A lot had changed in the last few days, I guess.

"Enough, Valdez," Leo muttered under his breath. "No one's gonna play violins for you just because you're not important."

"What?" I called up.

"Nothing!" He said. "I just am having trouble with all the old wiring. I can get some new from my belt, but I can't exactly replace the whole system in a quick snap."

"Just do what you can, Leo. Don't think we're stressing you to make the dragon perfect with so little time." He got back to work, and I went back to practicing with my powers. I got engrossed in my work, and I'm not sure how much time passed when something happened and we heard a voice.

" _Leo Valdez,_ " A woman's voice said. We looked around to find that the snow, chemical sludge, and even the asphalt was shifting like it was turning to liquid.

"Guys, that is definitely not me," I announced. A ten-foot wide area formed eyes, a nose, and a mouth - the giant face of a sleeping woman. She didn't speak aloud, her lips showing no signs of moving, but I could hear her voice in my head, like the vibrations of her voice were coming through the ground, up my feet and resonating in my skeleton.

" _They need you desperately, Leo, Valdez,_ " She said as the others all gathered forward. " _In some ways, you are the most important of the seven, the control disk in the dragon's brain. Without you, the power of the others means nothing. They will never reach me, never stop me, and I will fully awake._ "

"Leo, don't listen to her," Zyanya said.

" _Ah, you. Playing such a dangerous game. Hear this: you cannot hide forever, and you will be found by Chaos soon. There is no power that can avoid your fate._ "

"You know nothing about Chaos. You know nothing about  _me_."

" _I know enough._ "

"You…you killed my mom…" Leo muttered, trembling. The face shifted, the mouth forming a sleepy smile like it was having a present dream.

" _Ah, but Leo, I am your mother too. Do not oppose me, walk away now, and abandon that woman. She is no angle from the heavens. Let my son, Porphyrion, rise and become kind, and I will ease your burdens. You will tread lightly on the earth._ " We looked to Leo, and he grabbed the nearest thing he could find - a Porta-Potty seat - and threw it at the face.

"Leave me alone!" He shouted. The seat sank into the liquid, snow and sludge rippled and the face dissolved. We all stared in silence, waiting to see if it would reform, but it didn't. We then stood completely still, not a word. I could guess everyone was thinking different things, but we all came to the same conclusion: that was not good.

Whatever that woman was had killed Leo's mom just to make sure he was thrown away to orphanages, abandoned by his family and left to fend for himself in the life of a demigod, and she wanted to make sure he suffered. Now she was stupid enough to believe that Leo's past and current insecurities were going to be enough to make Leo take her offer of power, relief, and freedom. Sure, this world could be unfair to a lot of people, and there was no way to make it perfect, but humans weren't as base as other beings. It almost seemed foolish that the gods believed we could be swayed so easily. The promise of a good life could sway those who'd been through hell, but some of us are smart and know the gods can turn on any promise with the snap of their fingers, and we held no power in a bargain should the gods decide to turn on their word.

Unless, of course, if they held some hostage. In a situation like that, we may very well give in, even if we're unhappy with it. But for us to be considered idiots who would let this Porcupine dude rise and become king and whatnot was just insulting to humans and the gods who don't understand humanity after all these years. I guess, long ago, there were times when a woman was considered a man's "property" and she couldn't chose who to love, if she wanted to go to college, if she wanted to speak out, fight, wear anything but a million layers of skirts and makeup. My point, humanity has acted stupid in the past, but these are modern times. Keep with it, gods.

Then there was that whole thing about chaos. The sludge woman and Zyanya had talked as though "chaos" was a name, with a capital C. Even if Zyanya hadn't confirmed it, I am sure she's some kind of god in disguise. I'm not an expert on gods, but if they all look like the things we'd see in textbooks and such, she was definitely in disguise, and apparently hiding from this Chaos. Another thing to add to the list of mysteries about her.

Before anyone could question anything that had just happened, from Leo to Zy, there was a crash like two dump trucks slamming together from the direction of the factory. Metal crumpled and groaned, and the noise echoed across the yard. Everyone looked to each other, and came to a silent agreement. Jason and Piper were in trouble.

"Piper had broken her ankle," Leo said. "Jason stayed with her, but they'd be useless if they needed to run. It's not like Jason can fly them away with hyper speed."

"Then we need to go get them," Zyanya said. "No talking. The warehouse will make our voices echo, and best not give away a preemptive if there really is danger. Have your weapons ready. This is your first real fight on this quest. Follow  _all_  of my instructions. Some enemies are slick and wait for you to come into the open thinking its safe before they strike. Emily, be prepared to talk your way through this. If we can reason first, or create a distraction so we can save Jason and Piper, we'd best take it, especially if there's something big in there, and based on that loud clang before, I think it is."

"That's not very encouraging," Veon said.

"Want me to sing a song to calm your nerves?" She asked scowling. He looked to her, seemingly leaning back just a bit.

"Uh…no, I'm good." She held up her hands and a white light appeared in each, forming the shapes of two hand guns before the light disappeared to reveal said handguns. They were blue and silver with golden, swirling, decorative accents, and were small so they slipped nicely into her hands. If she moved fast enough, they wouldn't be noticeable. Subtle and deadly, not to mention the fact that any weapon she chose/summoned had to have a trick.

"Let's go," She said.

I pulled some water from the snow that had melted on the dragon and slipped it into my water bottle before drawing my new sword. It was a lot heavier than my dagger, and a bit uncomfortable, but it didn't take a genius to figure out how to swing it and adjust to the change. I'd learned how to fight monsters when I was just eight, and learning to use a sword now wouldn't be a challenge. Besides, best keep the weapon I was best with as a safeguard in case I ended up in a bind. Leo summoned a three pound club hammer with a double-faced head the size of a baked potato, probably the largest thing his tool belt could provide him as it needed cool down after certain requests. Veon drew his new sword, Emily reluctantly drew her dagger, and all of us ran towards the warehouse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry for the shortness of the last two chapters story wise, but the next will have a good fight and move the plot forward.


	13. Ma Gasket

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, a longer chapter to make up for the short ones before. As the weekend is coming up soon, I'll be able to post more chapters. Please review and tell me any suggestions or tips I could use to improve the story.

First Person: Zytaveon

We stopped at the door. Zyanya touched it and it shimmered slightly, before she pushed it open, not a sound even as the metal door should've screeched like a banshee with its age. We all quickly slipped inside, and she shut the door in case the light from outside warned anyone of our entrance. We didn't make a sound as we walked, more of Zy's soundproofing, and she led us through a maze of the warehouse. There was gray morning light filtering through a hole in the roof where Piper, Jason and Leo had to have come through, and a few light bulbs flickered, but most of the factory was still in shadows. Might be useful if I needed to use them again.

I had  _once again_  woken up with Zy singing to my face after my last dare-devil leap of faith. I at least avoided jumping up and smashing her skull this time, but it was still a little awkward. Then, when she'd jerked my right hand up to emphasize my stupidity, I was no longer worried about the intimacy. But when she'd healed my wrist, it came back again. I get that it was stupid to do what I'd done, but I wasn't gonna lose my friends if I could avoid it. I guess I should've expected Zy to have survived the crash with Festus and was trying to save us with some of her countless abilities, but at least now we know that I can make it to the shadows at high speeds, along with take at least two people with me. Sure, I'd nearly died and broke my wrist, but at least I was able to be healed.

Besides, I just needed to practicing taking others with me to the shadows. Powers were no different than muscles, and you needed to work them to build them. Before my claiming, I was still working on shadow traveling myself alone without being really hungry or tired (or both) afterwards, depending on the distance and circumstances. Now, I could do myself easier than I ever thought possible, and I could work on taking others with me too. The fact that I was going at high speeds must've contributed to my near death experience there, so if I were to take Audrey and Emily somewhere using the shadows but on solid ground, I should be able to get out without becoming transparent and nearly falling into the shadows forever. It had happened before, and it terrified me, feeling the shadows eat you until there's nothing left of your soul. You die, body and soul, and the souls who've made the same mistake as you all suffer with you in the never ending abyss.

On that happy thought, Leo pointed up to the catwalk above, but though we could see it, there was no sign of movement. No one was up there. The confused look on Leo's face showed that had to be where he'd left Piper and Jason. Before he could explain, Zy put her finger over her mouth and shook her head. When she knew he'd gotten the idea, she closed her nose and spun her other finger in the air to emphasize a weird smell in the air. I sniffed and realized it smelled like burning motor oil and sour breath. Not sure what that meant, but as this place should be abandoned, and the smells were fresh. Something non-human was in the factory, I was certain, and so was everyone else.

"Leo! Help!" Piper's voice cried out, making us all jump as her voice echoed through the warehouse. If Piper had been up on the catwalk, how could she have gotten down with a broken ankle like Leo said she had? Maybe Leo had left them with some healing supplies, but still…I wouldn't trust the voice. Leo everyone else remembered that too, and tensed, no one moving to respond. Emily put her hand to her mouth before swinging it outwards, imitating singing. Piper's charm speak! She had ordered Leo to help her, and though she wasn't experienced with the power, she had apparently convinced a person to hand over the keys to a car without complaint before, so Leo would be walking off into the open like an idiot right now had that really been Piper ordering him to help her.

Zy waved us to follow her, still using her sound manipulating to keep us silent, and we tensely followed in the direction that Piper's voice had come from. We ducked behind a cargo container, working out way towards the center of the room, hiding behind boxes and hollow truck chassis. Finally, we reached the assembly like, crouching being the nearest piece of machinery - a crane with a robotic arm. If we ran into trouble and bought Leo time, that might make a decent weapon.

"Leo?" Piper's voice called out again, this time a bit more hesitant. There may have been the urge to help her because of her worried and fearful tone, but it was a lot different from the influence of charm speak. This was just my morals worrying about someone, and not someone influencing me. We all tried to peak around the machinery, half of us on either side with Zy staying without a look. With all her surprises, I wouldn't be surprised if she could sense what was over there already. Anything was possible with her at this point. It made me jealous of all the luxuries she had with this power, but I realized it wasn't just jealousy, not really. It was something else…admiration?

Hanging directly above the assembly line, suspended by a chain from a crane on the opposite side, was a massive truck engine, dangling about thirty feet up as if it had been left here when the factory was abandoned. Below it on the conveyor belt sat a truck chassis and clustered around it were three dark shapes the size of forklifts. Nearby, dangling from chains on two other robotic arms, were two smaller shapes that after a moment I realized were human sized, and one was twisting around trying to fight their bonds.

 _Piper and Jason!_  I mouthed to the others. They nodded and turned back to the scene to see one of the forklift shapes rising, but then it seemed to almost morph into a humanoid shape of massive size. A giant shape shifter? Not that I could be surprised after the last few days. All my friends are demigods, one basically a god, all these darkness things were happening with Hera, Thanatos, the dreams and that prophecy. At this point, why not add a giant shape shifter into the fray? Of course, there was a sense within me that turned my gut and told me these were  _not_  going to be friendly shape shifters.

"Told you it was nothing," The giant rumbled with a deep voice too feral to be human. One of the other forklift-sized lumps shifted before calling out in Piper's voice, not just someone's attempt at her voice, but a perfect imitation that even my choir ears couldn't detect a difference. Granted, I hadn't known Piper long enough to adjust to her voice, but I could tell that was her voice, even if my eyes told me it definitely wasn't.

"Leo! Help! Help me!" Then the voice changed to a masculine snarl. "Bah, there's nobody out there. No demigod could be that quiet, eh?" I saw Zy smile at her accomplishment before we turned our attention back to the first monster chuckling.

"Probably ran away, if he knows what's good for him. Or the girl was lying about a third demigod." So Piper had been careful enough to not mention the rest of us. Even if she were she forced to swear on the River Styx, she'd just have to say that there was only one more person on their quest, because technically the four of us weren't with them on the quest to save Hera. We were on some other quest, even if we didn't know what that quest was. Sure, I had been ordered to rescue Hera, but I wasn't technically on Jason's quest. We were just helping out because we were coincidently following along(?) Again, didn't know the details as Zy hadn't revealed them to me. "Let's get cooking."

The there was a snap before a bright orange light sizzled to life, an emergency flare, that temporarily blinded me. We all ducked behind the crane again, blinking the spots out of our eyes and adjusting to the light. When we could all look again, we saw that the two human shapes being hung were definitely Jason and Piper. Piper was the one struggling to get free, gagged by otherwise unharmed. Jason, however, was passed out and hanging limply, his eyes rolled up in his head and a large red welt swollen over his left eyebrow, so clearly he'd been hit hard.

On the conveyor belt, the bed of the unfinished pickup truck was being used as a fire pit. The emergency flare had ignited a mixture of tires and wood, which, by the smell, had been doused in kerosene. A big metal pole was suspended over the flames, a spit, which meant this was a cooking fire. Uh-oh.

But the news got worse as we saw the cooks. Three massive humanoids gathered around the fire, two standing and stoking the flames while the largest one crouched with his back to us. The two facing us were each ten feet tall, with hairy, muscular bodies and skin that glowed red in the firelight. One of them wore a chain mail loincloth that looked seriously uncomfortable. The other wore a ragged fuzzy toga made of fiberglass insulation, which also would not have made my top ten wardrobe ideas. Other than that, the monsters could've been twins, each having a brutish face with a single eye in the center of his forehead. They were Cyclopes. You've gotta be kidding me. We were good fighters against a hydra, but these guys weren't limited by a single body, only a single eye (I wonder how good their depth perception was).

I'd seen a lot in my life, but this might be a challenge, even with the three of us. No doubt these guys were strong, not to mention there were three of them. So this is what that earth woman had said. She wanted Leo to leave his friends to die and would be offered…what? Freedom? Yeesh. These were Leo's friends, and nothing would allow him to forgive himself if he just up and left them when they were in trouble. Leo looked to Zy and she nodded, so he slipped off his backpack without a sound and unzipped it, digging around while Zy kept any sound muffled.

"Can I take her gag off now?" The Cyclops in the loincloth asked. "I like it when they scream." The question seemed to be directed at their leader, and the crouching figure grunted in response. I guess that was a yes because the loincloth guy ripped the gag out of Piper's mouth. She didn't scream, and instead took a shaky breath to try and calm herself. Adjusted to the life of a demigod already. Screaming doesn't do much good, and she knew to keep calm until there was no hope left, and demigods had to believe for every second they could if they wanted to survive.

Meanwhile, Leo pulled out a stack of tiny remote controls that he'd probably gotten from the Hephaestus cabin back at camp and took a screwdriver out of his magic tool belt. With the sound around us muffled, it almost felt like I was watching a movie on mute, and only the shuffling of the Cyclops and the cracking of the fire reminded me we were real. But the fact that we couldn't hear ourselves kinda reminded me of that dream, or nightmare really. I couldn't control anything, I couldn't hear my voice as I screamed in pain, and I wanted desperately to hear myself, to prove that there was still a me in whatever had happened to my body. It was a lot scarier than you'd think, but it was scarring. Yet I'd lived with darkness on my shoulders for years, and I could deal with this. I breathed, even if I couldn't hear that, either. The sound being mute thing also bothered me because I was a choir singer, and I like sound, especially when our choir held a note or sang a song.

The Cyclops in the toga poked at the fire which was now blazing away and billowing noxious black smoke toward the ceiling. His buddy Loincloth glowered at Piper, waiting for her to do something entertaining.

"Scream, girl! I like funny screaming!" When Piper did manage to gather herself and speak, her tone was calm and reasonable like she was correcting a naughty puppy, and it was definitely her this time.

"Oh, Mr. Cyclops, sir, you don't wanna kill us. It would be  _much_  better if you let us go." Loincloth scratched his head before he turned to his friend in the fiberglass toga.

"She's kinda pretty, Torque. Maybe I should let her go." Torque growled.

"I saw her first, Sump.  _I'll_  let her go!"

Sump and Torque growled and started to argue with each other, but then the third Cyclops rose and shouted, "Fools!" My eyes widened when the voice allowed me to realize the third Cyclops was a female. Her voice was still rough, but it was definitely the voice of a woman. She was several feet taller than the two boys, and if ten feet seemed tall, she was towering and a lot…what was the word I could use? Beefier. She wore a tent of chain mail cut like one of those sack dresses - a muumuu was it? Her greasy black hair was matted in pigtails, woven with copper wires and metal washers, and her nose and mouth were thick and mashed together, like she spent her free time ramming her face into walls. Yet her single eye glittered with an evil intelligence, and she seemed like the woman in charge here. Maybe the boys had seemed threatening enough, but now that I knew the third Cyclops was  _her_ …I was a bit worried now.

The woman Cyclops stalked over to Sump and pushed him aside, knocking him over the conveyor belt and Torque backed away quickly. "The girl is a Venus spawn, she's using charm speak on you!"

"Please, ma'am-" Piper began, but the lady Cyclops roared and grabbed Piper around his waist.

"Don't try your pretty talk on me, girl! I am Ma Gasket! And I've eaten heroes ten times tougher than you for lunch!" I feared Piper would get crushed, but Ma Gasket merely dropped her and let her dangle by her chain before turning to scold Sump on his stupidity and such. I turned to see Leo working furiously, twisting wires, turning switches before finally finishing attaching the remote to the robotic arm. He looked to the distracted Cyclops for a moment before quickly and silently creeping over to the next while the rest of us followed one by one, making sure it was safe before passing. Emily was last, and she decided she'd stay over behind that crane in case one of us got caught. Audrey decided to join her, trying to thin out our numbers so Emily wouldn't be left all on her own if things did go south.

"-eat her last, Ma?" Sump was saying.

"Idiot!" And I realized that those two were her sons. "I should've thrown you out on the streets when you were babies like  _proper_  Cyclops children! You might have learned some  _useful_  skills. Curse my soft heart that I kept you!" Gotta admit, a  _Cyclops_  mom keeping her children, especially when they were  _supposed_  to give them away was surprising.

"Soft heart?" Torque muttered.

"What was that, you ingrate?!"

"Nothing, Ma. I said you got a soft heart. We get to work for you, feed you, and file your toenails…"

"And you should be grateful! Now, stoke the fire, Torque! And Sump, you idiot! My case of salsa is in the other warehouse! Don't tell me you expect me to eat these demigods without salsa!" Gotta admit, salsa ain't bad, but nacho cheese would be a lot tastier. Man, I  _really_  needed to break this whole darkness habit.

"Yes, Ma," Sump said. "I mean no. I mean-"

"Go get it!" Ma Gasket picked up a nearby truck chassis and slammed it over Sump's head, Sump crumpling to his knees. And I thought the gods had weird families. Surely the hit should've killed him, but apparently Sump got hit by trucks a lot as he managed to push the chassis off his head, stagger to his feet and ran off to fetch the salsa. With one down, it might be a good time to do something.

Leo finished the wiring on the second crane and moved towards the third. Though the Cyclops didn't see him, Piper did, her expression turning from terror to disbelief and she let out a gasp.

"What's the matter, girl?" Ma Gasket asked, turning to her. "So fragile I broke you?" I quickly imitated throwing up and then shook my head with a look of disgust. Luckily, Piper seemed to be good at charades, quickly looking to Ma Gasket and away from us.

"I think it's my ribs, ma'am. If I'm busted up inside, I'll taste terrible." Ma Gasket bellowed with laughter.

"Good one. The last one we ate - remember him, Torque? A son of Mercury, wasn't he?"

"Yes, Ma. Tasty, though a bit stringy."

"He tried a trick like that. Said he was on some medication, but he tasted fine!"

"Tasted like mutton. Purple shirt, talked in Latin. Yes stringy, but good." Purple shirt, like Jason's, and spoke in Latin, like Jason? Piper spoke my thoughts to the Cyclops (minus the Jason part), and they seemed to enjoy the memory.

"Good eating," Ma Gasket said fondly. "Point is, we're not as dumb as people think! We're northern Cyclops, and we're not falling for those stupid tricks and riddles." Leo worked frantically, having paused at the mention of a purple shirt and Latin for a moment, but he knew our window of opportunity was closing if we wanted a preemptive. Zy was the only experienced and most powerful fighter among us, and god or not, she was had the body of a human at the moment, and even the hydra had caused some slight trouble for her.

I saw the engine block suspended right above the Cyclops' campsite, and I wondered if we could use that somehow. The crane holding onto it was on the other side of the conveyor belt at the moment, so there was no getting to it without being noticed, but it might work as a back up once the battle inevitably started. Even if I shadow traveled over, I couldn't figure out how to work the thing, and I wasn't willing to risk taking Leo with me after my near death experience from falling. The odds say it could work, but there's still the chance it wouldn't, and with Piper and Jason on the line, I wasn't gonna take that chance. I may not have known them for long, but I was proud to call them my friends. With our numbers, we needed to focus efforts on at least distracting if not all out fighting the Cyclops and freeing Jason and Piper.

"Oh, I've heard of the northern Cyclops!" Piper praised, even though I knew it had to be bull, but Piper was convincing, even if the Cyclops knew of her abilities. Doesn't matter if you have a resistance to charm speak or not, no one can resist a little praise. "I never knew you were so big and clever!"

"Flattery won't work either," Ma Gasket said, though I could tell she sounded pleased. "It's true, though, you'll be breakfast for the best Cyclopes around."

"But aren't Cyclopes good? I thought you made weapons for the gods."

"Bah! I am very good; good at  _eating people_ , good at  _smashing_. And good at building things, yes, but not for the gods. Our cousins, the elder Cyclopes, they do this, yes. Thinking they're so high and mighty because they're a few thousand years older. Not to mention our southern cousins, living on islands and tending sheep. Morons!"

"I agree, what kind of Cyclopes  _are_  they?"

"I know! But we Hyperborean Cyclopes, the northern clan, we're the best! Founded Monocle Motors in their factory. The best weapons, armor, chariots, fuel-efficient SUVs! But - bah! We were forced to shut down! Laid off most of our tribe. The war was too quick. Titans lost. No more need for Cyclops weapons."

"What?! How could such a thing happen?! I'm sure you made  _excellent_  weapons and armor. And fuel-efficient SUVs?! I didn't think there was such a thing!"

"Squeaky war hammer!" Torque said grinning. He picked up a large pole with an accordion looking metal box on the end. He slammed it against the floor and the cement cracked, but there was also a sound like the world's largest rubber ducky getting stomped.

"My, that's terrifying! You would send Apollo running with such a weapon!" Torque looked pleased, and I smiled at Piper's smart thinking and praise.

"Not as good as the exploding ax, but this one can be use more than once."

"I thought Hephaestus made marvelous weapons, but he's nothing compared to you!" I really hoped and prayed that saying that didn't make Hephaestus curse us right now. But of course, that just jinxed us as the wires in Leo's hands sparked, and though there was no sound and the Cyclopes were standing by a fire, it was enough to get their attention, as they had better senses than a human. They Cyclopes froze and turned in their direction, before Torque picked up a truck and threw it our way.

"Crap!" I shouted, my voice coming out again as our cover was already blown, before Zyanya pulled us out of the way just before the truck steamrolled over the machinery.

"Torque, you pathetic excuse for a Cyclops, get them!" Ma Gasket ordered. Zyanya and I summoned our shields and Leo frantically gunned the toggle on his makeshift remote that he'd been building while the conversation had been going on. Torque was fifty feet away, but he charged and came closer and closer. I realized we may actually have to use these shields, but they weren't gonna be any use to me if with a bull charge from a ten foot Cyclops.

Then the first robotic arm whirred to life and a three-ton yellow metal claw slammed the Cyclops in the back so hard he landed flat on his face. Before he could recover, the robotic hand grabbed him by one leg and hurled him straight up. He screamed as he was rocketed into the gloom, and though the ceiling too dark and too high to see exactly what happened, judging from the clang I guessed he'd hit one of the support girders.

"Oh, well that had to hurt," I muttered. Torque never came down, and instead yellow dust rained to the floor as Torque had been completely disintegrated. All of us, even Ma Gasket, was frozen in shock and surprise.

"My son…you…you just…" As if on cue, Sump lumbered into the firelight with a case of salsa. Had this not been such a serious situation, I would've laughed.  _Hey, your brother was just disintegrated, but good news, we've got salsa!_  Once again, trying to break this psychotic habit of mine. It was just so fun though. Sump never finished his sentence as Zyanya charged at him with speed and punched him dead in the center. The salsa case exploded like a piñata and Sump flew backwards, right into the base of Leo's third machine. The third arm came down with thousands of pounds of force, slamming him against the floor so hard he exploded into dust like a broken flour sack.

Two of them down already. I was beginning to feel as though Leo was all we needed here, along with the two giant cranes. The Ma Gasket locked eyes with Leo before she grabbed the nearest crane arm and ripped it off its pedestal with a savage roar.

"You busted my boys! Only  _I_  get to bust my boys!" Leo punched a button and the two remaining arms swung into action. But Ma Gasket caught the first one and tore it in half, and while the second smacked her in the head, that only seemed to make her mad. She grabbed it by the clamps, ripped it free and swung it like a baseball bat, nearly missing Piper and Jason in the process. Then, Ma Gasket let it go, spinning it towards us. Leo and I jumped to the sides before suddenly Zyanya appeared where we had been, having caught the large piece of wrecked machinery. She reared back before throwing it back to the Cyclops woman.

I looked over to the engine block, thinking now was better than never, but I needed to get Leo over to the thing to find a way to rig it. If I could shadow travel Leo over there without being noticed…but that would be impossible; Ma Gasket was now most angry and Leo and wouldn't allow him out of her sight without searching, and what are the odds she'd be able to find him before he could do anything? I needed to get Leo over there and still keep the female Cyclops's attention. Maybe I could send him over there through shadow travel without me coming along, but I needed an excuse to do so, one that made Ma Gasket think he was no longer worth pursuing. One that made her think he was dead. Shadow traveling easily looked like killing someone if done right…

"Hey, don't you take all the glory!" I shouted. "She's mine! How dare you get both of the boys, Valdez?!" Leo looked to me and I silently begged him to go along with it. Thankfully, he understood my message and put on his best scowl.

"Oh, and I suppose  _you_  could've done better? You're no superman, death-head! I bet I could take on Ma Gasket faster than you!"

"Oh no,  _you're_  not getting the glory of killing their leader  _and_  her minions!  _I'm_  gonna do it!" I subtly took a step forward, and Leo got the hint, taking his own, making it look as though we were about to really fight.

"You can barely swing a sword properly and I took out two Cyclopes in two seconds! Think you can do better?!"

"I know I can!"

"That a challenge?!"

"Yeah! And you of all people aren't gonna stop me!" I put my hand on his shoulder and then willed the shadows to take him. He gasped, unaware of my plan but making it look more real, before turning to dust and fading into his shadow which also disappeared into the floor like a drying puddle. I felt his soul in the shadows and willed him over behind the crane before throwing him back up as silently as I could. Luckily, he managed to keep quiet as he regained his composure. I'd gotten sick the first time I'd shadow traveled, and had a headache worse than a migraine, but it had gone away within a few minutes to be replaced by fatigue. I was still the one activating the shadow travel, so I felt the fatigue part, especially considering I had never sent someone through the shadows without me coming too before. Leo should've been up in a minute and working on the crane. All I had to do was make sure I kept Ma Gasket's attention until he was done. Considering my luck in distracting the hydra before, this may be rough.

"Now, anyone else wanna get in the way?" I asked, trying to keep my confidence. It was just like a choir concert. Push the nerves down and just do it. Zyanya took a few steps back away from Ma Gasket as in, "she's all yours," and I knew Audrey and Emily were trying to find a justifiable excuse for turning Leo to dust, but they were my friends, and they trusted me to handle this. "I am the son of Hades, and I will not fall to a simple Cyclops!" I declared. Ma Gasket turned to me, smiling at the stupid and arrogant demigod that thought he could take her on alone.

"Very well, child," She said, cracking her knuckles. "If you are so eager, I shall devour you first!" She charged and I grabbed my sword. Oh boy. She was fast when charging in a straight line, but that allowed me to dodge to the side easily like with a charging bull. I turned back and managed to slash at her arm with my sword. It felt weird, using an actual sword and feeling the slight resistance as the sword sliced through skin, muscle, and tissue like a knife to warm butter. I was reluctant at first, decreasing the power of my swing, but then I willed myself to dig it in, that dark side of me emerging and liking the feeling of the sword tearing through my opponent. I dug in the sword for the second half of the swing before quickly hitting the ground running and putting some distance between us in case she retaliated.

Ma Gasket now had a cut up her left arm, shallow at her wrist, but bleeding in a larger area up her forearm, as I had turned the blade at just the angle that I was tearing at a large chunk of flesh. As we had now switched positions, I was close enough to see and hear Leo fiddling with the crane's controls, but it didn't sound good. I kept my eyes on my enemy, but Leo sounded close to cursing.

"Can't get it…darn, it's not…! Ve, I can't operate it!" He hissed as quietly as he could. Ma Gasket was too angered and too far to hear him, but she charged once more.

"Leo, get to Audrey and Emily and come up with a plan," I told him, trying not to let on that I was talking to anyone. "Get Piper and Jason. Zyanya and I will keep her busy. Go!" I charged at her as well before pushing with my right foot as hard as I could and launching myself to the left right before we would've met. I managed to clip her on the leg as we passed, but accuracy wasn't easy and I rolled when I hit the ground, coming down at a bad angle.

I quickly rose before Ma Gasket noticed, but now she grabbed another truck and held it above her head, prepared to throw. Then, suddenly, a large wave of salsa went smacking into her face and she dropped the truck behind her, her hands going to her eye as the salsa stung. Audrey had come out into the open, her hands to the side as she had manipulated the (kind-of) liquid. She waved her hands in a wide arc, the salsa following her movements and rounding in the air before smacking Ma Gasket again. But now Ma Gasket was mad, and the salsa only pushed her for a little amount back, before the force eventually became nothing to her. Audrey's eyes widened when she realized she couldn't do anything now.

"Uh-oh." The Cyclops woman bellowed in anger, just as Leo ran up to Emily and Audrey. Zyanya was currently working to free Jason, as he was unconscious, and it wasn't an easy task, so we had to keep Ma Gasket distracted until she was done or they'd be dead.

"Anymore tricks, demigods?" She demanded, now seeing Leo. Leo looked around before holding up his remote control.

"Heck yeah, I got tricks!" He declared as bravely as he could. "Take one more step and I'll destroy you with fire!" Ma Gasket laughed.

"Cyclopes are immune to fire, idiot, but if you wish to play with flames, let me help!" She scooped up red-hot coals into her bare hands and flung them at us, but they only ended up landing around our feet.

"You missed," Leo said, incredulously. Then Ma Gasket grinned and picked up a barrel next to the truck. It didn't take a genius to figure out her plan, and Audrey grabbed my hand before pulling me out of the way. I had just enough time to read the stenciled word  **Kerosene**  before Ma Gasket threw it and the barrel split on the floor in front of Leo and Emily, spilling lighter fluid everywhere.

Coals sparked, and Piper screamed, "No!"

"Emily!" I shouted, but Audrey grabbed my hand and held me back. A firestorm erupted around them, and instantly they were bathed in flames swirling twenty feet into the air. The fire and heat was blinding, and Ma Gasket shrieked with delight. I was gonna kill this Cyclops now! No way was she gonna get away with killing Emily!

But when the fire faded away, the kerosene burned off and dying down to small fiery patches on the floor, she and Leo were standing here, Emily's arms held in front of her face in defense, but otherwise, they were unharmed. All of us were frozen in shock, but Emily simply dropped her arms, checked her clothes before smiling.

"Good, I liked this outfit," She muttered.

"Em…?" I asked hesitantly. She looked to me in confusion before her face turned to realization.

"Oh, that's right…there's hasn't been time to tell you…"

"You live?" Ma Gasket asked, astonished. She took a step towards us in anger, and I realized she was right where we needed her. All we needed to do was cut the chain holding the engine. But I had never used a sword before yesterday, and no way was I gonna be able to throw it with enough accuracy to hit the chain, not to mention I also had to make sure to put enough force into the throw or the sword wouldn't cut through. Zyanya was still occupied trying to silently release Jason and Piper, but even with her ability to muffle her sound, her jumping at the chain lead to the possibility of Ma Gasket noticing her plan and moving. There was always a chance she could make it and Ma Gasket would be hit, but there was also a chance she wouldn't. If we were willing to take that risk, Piper, Jason and everyone else had to be clear of Ma Gasket, and Piper and Jason certainly weren't.

"What are you?" Ma Gasket asked.

"Son of Hephaestus, and I warned you I would destroy you with fire," Leo said. He pointed a finger at the chain and shot a bolt of white-hot flames at the chain suspending the engine block above the Cyclops's head - aiming for a weak link. When the flames died, nothing happened and Ma Gasket laughed.

"An impressive try, child Hephaestus; it has been many centuries since I last saw a fire user. You'll make a spicy appetizer!" Then, the chain snapped, the link Leo had aimed for heated beyond its tolerance point, and the engine block fell, deadly and silent.

"I don't think so," I said. Ma Gasket didn't even have time to look up before -  _smash!_  - No more Cyclops, just a pile of dust under a five ton engine block.

"Not immune to engines, huh?!" Leo celebrated. "Boo-yah!" Then he wobbled and fell to his knees, Emily and Audrey catching him before he face planted.

"Are you okay Leo?" Emily asked.

"That was awesome, dude!" Audrey added. Leo smiled weakly and held a thumb up.

"I'm good," He assured us. "Just never tried something that intense before. A bit drained. I'll be good in a moment." He stumbled to his feet, Emily spotting him as we headed over to Piper, Jason and Zy, who were managing to get some healing nectar into Jason's mouth. Jason groaned, but the welt on his head started to shrink and his color came back a little. That stuff and this ambrosia stuff were cool, and I'm told they taste like your favorite meal. If you take too much, you may end up burning up, and I'm not exactly eager for the time I'm hurt enough to have to use it, but still, intriguing.

"He's got a nice, thick skull," Leo said about Jason. "I think he's gonna be fine."

"A little rest and he will be," Zy confirmed.

"Thank god," Piper sighed. Then, she looked to Leo. "How did you…the fire…have you always…?"

"Always," Leo said, looking down. "I'm a freaking menace. Sorry, I should've told you guys sooner, but-"

"Are you kidding?!" Piper interrupted, punching his arm. "That was amazing! You saved our lives! All of you, but come on Leo! What are you sorry about? Look at what you just did! You took out two Cyclops in seconds, and then you took out the leader too! Again, no offense, the rest of you."

"None taken," I said. "That was cool, Leo. Why didn't you say you were a fire guy sooner? I mean sure, those Boreas guys were against fire and all, but still. And Em? Explained please."

"Well…" Emily began before she explained how she'd found out she was invincible after her claiming, because of a whole "love can never die" thing, and that Audrey knew because when they'd first met Festus in the forest, he'd tried to char her and Leo. Emily had gotten Leo to tell her about his fire power, and Audrey had found out when she'd joined them and fixed up Festus with Leo.

"So you managed to forget to tell me about this  _minor_  detail?" I asked.

"Uh…yes?" I sighed.

"Well, I know now, but you scared the heck out of me, Em!"

"Sorry," She said with her head down and her hands together in front of her. I realized this wasn't Emily guilt tripping me; this was actually just her personality.

"Don't be sorry, Em. I'm just glad you're okay."

"Guys, we need to move," Zy said. She kicked a pile of dust, but it began to move in the opposite direction of her kick despite her attempts to stop it. I realized that dust was the remains of the Cyclopes, and remembered how it was becoming easier for monsters to reform.

"That's not possible," Piper said, stepping away from the dust. "Annabeth told me monsters dissipate when they're killed. They go back to Tartarus and can't return for a long time."

"Well, clearly nobody told the dust that," Leo said as the dust collected into a pile and they very slowly spread out, forming a shape with arms and legs. A gun shot rang out and the dust glowed before falling limp again.

"That won't keep them down forever!" Zy shouted, her arm outstretched with her gun in hand. The dust began to move again and she shot it once more, stalling it again. "Move! Move! Move!" We did as she said, grabbing Jason and running off as fast as we could.

Dad and Boreas had said things about the dead no longer able to stay in Tartarus or confined to dad and whatnot. All I got from that was the dead wouldn't stay dead as long as normal, and that meant trouble for us. If we couldn't kill our enemies, then we'd never be able to stop them. There had to be a way to fix this. Hades had told me I could repair the damage done, I could help. I apparently wasn't a part of these seven demigods of the Great Prophecy, but I always believed the best work was done in the shadows. And I had some work to do if I was gonna be able to help fix the cycle of death and assist these demigods on their quest.

Saving Hera, and even checking on Thanatos, would only be the beginning, I knew that for sure now. Whatever that dirt woman was, she was trouble, and I had a feeling she was behind all of this. There were a million questions to be answered, a seemingly endless future of uncertainty in front of us, but I knew that I was going to do this now. I was a son of Hades, one of the Great Three. I knew things no one should learn, experienced things no one should have to go through because of my dad, but I would walk through it, I would do this. I would win, and nothing would stand in my way. Not even the gods themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those who have hung on this long, thank you. I love writing and I have big plans for this story, but it's going to take a lot of time. If even one person can hold on till the end, I promise a great storyline in the future. Again, please review. I welcome comments good and bad, and any suggestions to make the story as enjoyable as possible to readers.


	14. Stories

First Person: Emily

Veon just got sucker-punched by a goddess.

"Again," Zyanya ordered. Veon grumbled and picked himself off the ground.

"You're doing great Ve!" I called. He took a deep breath before charging at her again, but she backed her head just out of the way of his punch without even flinching, took a step back to avoid the next then rotated to the side to easily and calmly dodge his attempt at punching her in the gut. She continued her spin past him and then elbowed him in the back and sending him face planting into the ground. She wiped her hands together with a sigh.

"Try again. Don't be rash, be smart."

"A lot harder than it sounds," He grumbled, spitting out a face full of dirt. I put my hand to my mouth to avoid him seeing my smile, but Audrey just flat out laughed. She and Leo had been training before, both sitting next to each other on the grass resting. Piper and I had gone too, though it wasn't much of an interesting battle as I made sure no one wanted to fight me. Piper did work on her resistance to charm speak (or influence at the least, as I wasn't technically using charm speak) and got in a little dagger practice with Audrey, who was an expert with her necklace dagger. Jason had been sleeping on a short trip over here, where we decided we could let him rest on solid ground and get in some practice.

Zy and Veon were currently dueling, and as easy as it was to swing a weapon, teleport with shadows, or instantly turn enemies to ash, he wasn't really a martial arts master and didn't really know how to fight. I suppose I was no better, but at least I had the excuse of being a daughter of a goddess of peace. Well, she isn't  _officially_  a goddess of peace, but she might as well have been. I had the advantage of being invincible were real trouble to come, but Veon…well, he had some work to do in case we got into a real fight.

"How about we start simpler?" Zy suggested. She pulled Veon to his feet by his shirt and then shoved him slightly forward to push him back on balance after he nearly fell backwards again from her strength in pulling him. "Plant your feet," She ordered and he did so. She stood in front of him and took on a boxing stance. "Block to your left!" She punched to the left of his head and his right hand moved to intercept. He was slow, though, and had she been aiming for his face, she'd have knocked him head on the eye. "Right!" He caught on and quickly moved his head to dodge and then grabbed her wrist when it flew to his right.

"Whoa!"

"Associate the actions you see to instant reactions. You hear right, go left, you hear left, go right. Hear above, duck. We'll start with the head first and then add on full body responses like the gut and chest. You need to make these lightning reflexes, your body acting without the small moment needed to think. That small gap is a matter of life and death, understand?"

"Yes."

"Now, again! Left! Right! Right! Above! Right! Left! Above! Above! Left! Left! Left! Right!" They continued this process for a good deal of time, and I could tell, thanks to rhythm practice in choir, that Zy was slowly but surely increasing the tempo of her commands. Veon's reaction time increased too, and he got into a rhythm of blocking her moves the moment he knew what was coming.

"Cyclops!" Jason suddenly shouted, breaking Veon's concentration as he got knocked in the face by a right hook. I now realized that Zy had been aiming directly for him each time she punched, and he hadn't been hit once. At least until now, that is.

"Whoa, sleepyhead," Piper said, getting Jason to settle down.

"D-Detroit… Didn't we…crash-land? I-I thought…"

"It's okay, bud," Audrey said. "We got away, but you did get a nasty concussion. How you feeling?" Jason put his hand to his head for a moment in thought.

"How did…? The Cyclops…"

"Leo ripped them apart," Piper declared. "He was amazing. He can summon fire and-"

"It was nothing," Leo added quickly.

"Oh, come on, Leo," I said. "It wasn't " _nothing_ "; you were awesome." We explained what Leo had done, rigging the machines to take out two of the Cyclopes and then using fire to take out the third. We had to explain my invincibility again, and I made sure to stick to the story of how love couldn't be killed. We explained how we'd noticed the Cyclopes reforming, and Zy's bullets managed to stall them long enough that Leo could replace the wiring in Festus's head and get us back in the air. We finished with our decision to stop and rest, along with get in some training.

Piper then went to explain how the Cyclopes had previously eaten someone in a purple shirt that spoke Latin, and while that wasn't exactly a joyous thought, it did mean that there were others like Jason out there. Jason put his head to his hand in thought. Maybe he had once known a son of Mercury before. Meaning, we were on the right track to finding Jason's past.

"I'm not alone then," Jason muttered. "There are others like me."

"You were never alone, Jason," Piper said. "You've got us."

"I know…but something Hera said…You see, I was having this dream…" He told us how he woke back at that strange house to find Hera in her cage. She had explained that Zeus had locked up Olympus because he thought that was the cause of the rise in chaos, that the gods were making too much noise. Hera may have accepted that, but she was also Juno, her Roman form, and she would not stand by and watch Zeus ignore a serious threat. A voice had told her to go to where she was, but it had clearly been a trap. She realized that the earth was stirring faster than anyone had predicted, and she considered herself worse than Zeus, or Jupiter, by being a slave to her impulses and following that voice only to get captured. She had been previously captured by the giants, and that had led to a war. Now an enemy that the gods could only defeat with the help of the greatest living heroes was stirring, and though Hera didn't give a name, she said that the one who controls the giants, " _she_ " cannot be defeated, only kept asleep.

"Hera's cage began to constrict, and she had some nasty keepers. She's losing strength by the minute, and said she wouldn't even be able to contact me in dreams anymore. Then, when I asked her about this gamble Boreas mentioned, she said she'd made an exchange, and that it was the only way to bring peace. The enemy counts on our division, and it will destroy us, but I was some kind of offering. A bridge to overcome millennia of hatred. I tried to ask, but she said she couldn't tell me more and that I've only survived this long because she took my memory. Um…oh, she also said my sister Thalia would help me, though I'm not sure who she is. I know she's my sister, and I know she's a Hunter of Artemis based on what Annabeth told me back at camp. She also warned that our most dangerous mortal enemy lies in Chicago, and if we're going to die, it'll be by her hand. So yeah, great encouragement to go to Chicago."

"An exchange…" Piper said in thought.

"Hera's gamble is me, but I have a feeling that just by sending me to Camp Half-Blood she was breaking some kind of rule, something that could blow up in a big way."

"Or save us," I said, staying positive. "Hera has to have her reasons for taking a risk so big. Audrey, remember what you said back at the campfire? Wherever Jason's from, Percy could've been sent without his memories too, therefore he can't return to Camp Half-Blood. What are the odds you were right, and Hera's plan was to switch your places without your memories? You're an offering to overcome millennia of hatred. Maybe there's some conflict between Camp Half-Blood and where you're from, but the only way to end the conflict is to send one of you to each camp, your memories wiped clean so that you can't destroy each other and see the other side of the story without bias."

"It would be a smart idea to erase your memories if there's some kind of conflict going on," Audrey said. "Jason's our friend, right? Even if he gets his memories back and realizes he's supposed to hate us, we've already become friends. I don't know about you, but if I were in Jason's position, I would never hurt my new friends, no matter what past they have or if I randomly find out they're in a camp that's your enemy. Without your memories, you can't be seen as a hostile, and you can learn what it's like on the other side of the fence before you make judgment. Of course, if Hera has to take some gamble and risk to get Camp Half-Blood and this place together, then the conflict between you guys must be tense."

"Well, she has to believe that it can help us stop this sleeping enemy," Piper said. "That sounds a lot like the woman Leo mentioned, doesn't it?"

"About that," Leo said. "She kind of appeared to us back in Detroit." He quickly explained the conversation with the face in the factory yard to Jason and Piper.

"Zy seemed to know her," Veon pointed out, happy for the excuse to ask what that was about.

"Not like we're BFFs," Zy said defensively. "All I know is that she's trouble. She's gonna try to sway you all to turn on each other, and while her attempts at swaying Leo to betray us were shallow at best, humans are easy to read. If we are threatened with some hostage, we may very well be turn on those we care about, even if we're unhappy about it."

"She's trying to divide us…" Piper muttered.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked, sensing her tension.

"I just…why are they toying with us? Who is this lady? And how is she connected to Enceladus?"

"Enceladus?" I asked. "Who's that?"

"Um… it's just one of the giants I've read about," Piper said. It didn't take a daughter of Hestia to figure out there was something bothering her, but I decided it was best not to press her into anything that would make her feel uncomfortable.

"Well, I don't know about Enchiladas-" Leo began.

"Enceladus," Piper corrected.

"Whatever. But Old Potty Face mentioned another name. Porpoise Fear, or something?"

"Porcupine?" Audrey suggested.

"Porphyrion," Zyanya corrected. "Giant king. In the old stories, Porphyrion kidnapped Hera, and that was his first shot in the war between the giants and the gods. The giants are almost impossible to kill, and heroes and gods had to work together. Needless to say, some of the gods are stubborn and refuse to ask for help, and their pride nearly led to their defeat. Zeus clearly hasn't learned his lesson from the wars that have threatened the gods, and here we are again, fixing his mess. What are the odds he's going to blame Hera for everything that's happening, even though she's the only one brave enough to break the rules and find out that Zeus was, gasp, wrong about something. I swear, his power sometimes goes to his head, especially after all these years. It's not like the gods aren't prone to selfishness and pride, him most of all. I'd whack him with his own lightning bolt if I didn't have so much self-control."

"Speaking of you…?" Veon muttered.

"Not that easy, Death-Boy. Anyway, we'd best get moving. We've wasted enough time as it is." Our group silently agreed and hopped on Festus. We flew west for some time, and I got lost in thought, staring at the clouds, when Festus suddenly dove beneath them to reveal a snow-covered Chicago, with a glittering winter sun beside a lake, a crescent of skyscrapers lining the shore, and a vast grid of neighborhoods and roads stretching all the way to the western horizon.

"One problem down, we got here alive," Leo said. "Now, where do we find those storm spirits?"

"How about we follow that one?" Jason suggested, pointing, and we saw a small, dark blotch zooming through the sky. It was too small, too dark, and too fast to be a plane, and as it spiraled towards the skyscrapers, weaving and changing shape, I swear it became the smoky figure of a horse. So that was a storm spirit.

"After it!" I called, pointing. Festus obliged, but the thing moved like…well, the wind.

"Faster!" Jason urged.

"Bro, if I get any closer, he'll spot us," Leo said. "Bronze dragon ain't exactly a stealth plane!"

"Slow down!" Audrey shouted. The storm spirit dove into the grid of streets, and Festus's wing span was too big for him to follow. His left wing clipped the edge of a building, slicing off a stone gargoyle before Leo was able to pull up.

"Get above the buildings," Jason suggested. "We'll track him from there."

"You wanna drive this thing?" Leo grumbled, but did as he asked. We finally spotted the storm spirit again, zipping through the streets with no apparent purpose - blowing over pedestrians, ruffling flags, making cars swerve.

"Oh great, there are two," Piper said. I saw she was right as a second ventus blasted around the corner of the Renaissance Hotel and linked up with the first. They wove together in a chaotic dance, shooting to the top of a skyscraper, bending a radio tower and diving back down towards the street.

"Those two do  _not_  need any more caffeine," Leo declared.

"Chicago must be a good place to hang out," Piper said. "Nobody's gonna notice a couple more evil winds."

"More than a couple," Veon said. "Look." The dragon circled over a wide avenue next to a lake side park. Storm spirits were converging, at least a dozen of them, whirling around a big public art installation.

"Which one do you think is Dylan?" Leo asked, referring to the storm spirit that had apparently attacked them back at the Grand Canyon. " I wanna throw something at him."

"Isn't he a wind spirit so it would go right through…?" Veon began but decided against finishing. We looked to the art instillation, which seemed to be just a public fountain with two five-story monoliths rising from either end of a long granite reflecting pool. The monoliths seemed to be built of video screens, flashing the combined image of a giant face that spewed water into the pool. Then suddenly the image on the screen changed to a woman's face with her eyes closed.

"Guys…?" I asked.

"I see it," Leo said. "Not happy about it, but I see it." Then the screens went dark, the venti swirling together into single funnel cloud and skittering across the fountain, kicking up a waterspout almost as high as the monoliths. They got to its center, popped off the drain cover, and disappeared underground.

"Did they just go down a drain?" Audrey asked.

"That fountain thing is giving me some seriously bad vibes," Leo said. "Are we sure we wanna try and follow them? Beware the earth and all?" Everyone considered it.

"Put us down in the park," Jason finally said. "We'll check it out on foot." Leo had Festus set down in an open area between the lake and the skyline. The signs said Grant Park, and I imagined it might've been nice in summer, but now it was a field of ice, snow and salted walkways. The dragon's feet hissed as they touched down, and Festus flapped his wings unhappily, shooting fire into the sky. Luckily, there was no one around to notice. We dismounted, the wind coming off the lake stinging my eyes. Maybe I was invincible, but that didn't mean I couldn't be uncomfortable. Festus stomped his feet, one of his ruby eyes flickering like he was blinking.

"Uh, is that normal?" Jason asked. Leo pulled out a rubber mallet from his tool bag, whacked Festus's eye, and the light went back to normal.

"Yes," Leo said. "But Festus can't stick around here, though, in the middle of the park. He'll be arrested for loitering. Maybe if I had a dog whistle…" He dug his hand around in his tool belt, but apparently came up with nothing. "Too specialized? Hm…okay, give me a safety whistle. They got that in a lot of machine shops." This time, Leo pulled out a big, plastic, orange. "Coach Hedge would be jealous! Okay, Festus, listen." Leo blew the whistle, the shrill probably rolling all the way to Lake Michigan. You hear that, and you come find me, okay? Until then, you can fly wherever you want."

"Just try not to roast any pedestrians," I requested, petting his nose. The dragon snorted in agreement and I stepped back as he spread his wings, launching into the air. Piper took a step but then winced, and I remembered that she had broken her ankle back at the factory. She'd seemed fine before, but I guess the nectar and ambrosia we'd given her was wearing off.

"You okay?" Jason asked.

"Fine," She said, shivering, and I remembered she'd also lost her jacket to her - our - mom, I guess. She took a few more steps with only a slight limp, but I could tell she was in pain and wanted to help.

"Let's get out of the wind," I suggested.

"Down a drain?" Piper shuddered.

"Sounds cozy," Veon muttered. We headed to the fountain, seeing the plaque with the name Crown Fountain. It seemed that the water had emptied out except for a few small patches that were starting to freeze. When we stepped to the center of the pool, no spirits tried to stop us, and the giant monitor stayed dark. The drain hole was easily big enough for a person, and a maintenance ladder led down into the gloom.

"Whelp, let's move," Zy said. She jumped down the manhole, not bothering to climb down with the ladder. Jason climbed down next, and the rest of us followed. The smell wasn't as bad as I expected, and the ladder dropped into a brickwork tunnel running north to south. The air was warm and dry, with only a trickle of water on the floor.

"Are all sewers this nice?" Piper asked.

"No," Leo said. "Trust me."

"How do you know-?" Jason began.

"Hey, man, I ran away six times, and I've slept in some really weird places, okay? Now, which way do we go?"

"This way," Zyanya said, already moving south. "There's a draft blowing this way, and the venti most likely went with the flow." We decided that was a good enough lead, and there weren't many options. With Zy going along with it, I guessed it was best to follow her opinion. Unfortunately, as soon as we started walking, Piper stumbled and Jason had to catch her.

"Stupid ankle," Piper cursed.

"Let's rest," Audrey said. "I think we all deserve it. Leo, can you pull out any food other than breath mints from that tool belt of yours?"

"Thought you'd never ask!" He said. "Chef Leo is on it!" We all sat down while Leo shuffled through his bag and I helped him prepare a meal. I briefly heard Piper talking to Jason about what happened with the Cyclops not being his fault, but then I heard something about Piper's dad being in trouble. Before I could hear them delve any deeper into the conversation, Leo jumped up as we finished making the food.

"And bingo!" He shouted. He held three plates, balancing them on his arms like a waiter, me being the same but with four plates. It wasn't an easy challenge, but with a little concentration I managed to pass around the plates to Zy, Audrey, and Veon while Leo passed around the plates to Jason and Piper. I knew my friends well enough to know their tacos, so we'd made tacos for all their unique personalities, Leo even making tofu ones for vegetarian Piper.

Leo joked around, lightening the dark mood as we ate, and our group got to formally know each other a bit better. Leo called Piper "beauty queen" even as my Aphrodite blessing hadn't fully worn off yet, and I preferred not to be referenced as one anyway. Leo was almost as fun as my old friends, maybe even better, though that wouldn't be right to say, as I'd only recently met him. Jason was similar to Veon in many aspects. He tried to play around with the conversation, while still remaining calm, unlike Leo who was practically jumping around. Jason and Leo had apparently been best friends before Jason's memory erase, and even if that was a trick of the Mist like we'd been told, they were still good friends already. Piper was a kind girl, one I liked and was proud to call a half-sister. She told the story of how she'd talked a dealer into giving her a BMW with her charm speak, and the rest of the group put a light mood into it, considering it was kinda funny when you thought about it.

Then it was our turn to explain some of the things we did. We talked about being choir lovers and how Audrey, Zy and I had known about each other's powers before Veon was brought into the mix. He made a jokingly annoyed remark about not being let in on his friend's club of demigods sooner, and said it must've been a girl thing. Audrey punched him on the arm and said we'd planned to tell him sooner or later, but life beat us to it. I told my story of how I'd known I was a demigod since around thirteen when the monsters began coming after me. Audrey said she'd had the monsters coming since eight years old, but Veon had gotten his around 12 or 13 too. I usually talked my way out of situations, convincing the monsters it wasn't a good idea to fight me, but they hadn't been very big like the ones we'd recently faced. Veon said he'd always disintegrated the ones that had come after him, while Audrey got good with this dagger a woman she'd known gave her.

Zy's story, or Lucy's rather, was that she'd had the monsters come since she could remember. She'd been running as a toddler, a young child, a not-so-young child, and then eventually a teen. That's when her powers came to her, no literally, Zyanya had come to her in her dreams and then suddenly she  _was_  her, with her power and strength. She had been 12 at the time, and by then, she'd been taken to an orphanage and given to a family. They were nice people, and got her back into the normal routine of society, going to school and such. They had no idea of her real powers, and ever since she became Zyanya, the monsters had stayed away, so it wasn't hard for her to keep the secret of her life.

"My parents are probably out with yours, worried about us. They'll get over it eventually, but there's no way we can go back, I hope you all know that."

"We know," Audrey said.

"Yeah," Veon said nodding.

"As long as their safe, I'm okay," I said.

"They're safer than they've ever been now that we're out of the way," Zy said, trying not to sound like she didn't care for them anymore. Maybe the Zyanya in her didn't, but the Lucy in her did. Not to mention she was being sympathetic with me, Veon, and Audrey. "The older we get, the bigger the target we are. I'm surprised we haven't been sought out by every monster in the U.S. with our lack of proper precautions."

"Well I practically spent all my money in the pharmaceutical section of Walgreens," Audrey said. "Before ambrosia, it was a pain to keep my injuries a secret. I think my parents were getting suspicious when I started actually  _volunteering_  to do my laundry at least twice a week."

"No kidding," Veon said. "Do you know how many times I came home covered in the ash of some monster? My mom once asked if I'd been cleaning chimneys, it was so bad. Not to mention the one time Hades dragged me out one day for "father/son bonding time." My mom and dad nearly had a heart attack. Needless to say, I requested he only invite me on weekends."

"So you're mom fell in love with Hades, huh?" Audrey asked.

"What kind of person is Hades?" Leo asked. "I mean, I imagine the guy from the Hercules movie, all blue and flames-y in a toga."

"He's not blue, and he's not… _always_  in a toga," Veon said. "He's nothing like that kiddy movie, Leo. Believe me, when I'd first met him, I questioned it too. The gods can dress all formal and such, but a good deal of the time they're dressed in modern clothes: suits, jeans and T-shirts, etc. As for my mom…well, I didn't really meet her. She…I have pictures from Hades, but not much else. I was really little when…well, you know…the gods and such."

"Yeah," Audrey said. "I get it. I lost my mom too, and then I was given to my current family. All demigods have it this way then?"

"My dad…I think he was, you know,  _mine_ ," I said. "I guess, maybe I wasn't a daughter of the big three, but…he's really nice. Grew up with my dad, my step-mom, and my little brother."

"I only had my dad," Piper said. "It was enough, you know? Of course, sometimes I did ask him about mom. I'm not even sure he knew she was a goddess. Only that he was in love and then…she left him raising a daughter on his own."

"I think he did a wonderful job," I said. "I know mom would've stayed if she could've." Piper zoned out, lying back on Jason's lap.

"Can't wait to meet her one day."

"You should get some sleep," Jason said. Piper didn't argue, and was out like a light in a few seconds. We sat in silence, me hoping to keep the mood a little more joyful. Our parentage made our lives hard, but now maybe things could get better. I had to believe they would, and with a deep breath, I did. Leo ended up making some lemonade with canteen water and powdered mix, which was actually really good, and I loved lemonade anyway.

"You should start a stand," Jason said to him. "You'd make some serious cash." He stared in thought for a moment, hesitant to say something. "Leo…about this fire stuff you do…is it true?" Leo's smile faltered.

"Yeah," He said. He opened his palm and a small ball of flame burst to life, dancing across his palm.

"That is so cool. Why didn't you say anything?" Leo closed his hand and the fire went out.

"Didn't wanna look like a freak, that's all."

"I have lightning a wind powers, Piper and Emily can turn beautiful, Piper charming people into handing over BMWs and Emily standing up to a crown of people unfazed, Veon can teleport with shadows and turn stuff to ash, Audrey can make water move and change to ice or steam, and I don't know what's up with Zyanya. You're no more of a freak than we are. If anything, you seem dull. But hey, maybe you can fly too. Like jump off a building a shout "Flame on!" Leo snorted, a smile threatening to emerge at his friend.

"If I did that, you would see a flaming kid falling to his death, yelling something a little stronger than "Flame on!" Trust me, Hephaestus cabin doesn't see fire powers as cool. Nyssa told me they're super rare, and when a demigod like me comes around, bad things happen.  _Really_  bad."

"Or it could be the other way around," I said. "Maybe people with special gifts show up when bad things happen because that's when they're needed most. Your power, and all our powers, are gifts, that we can chose to use for good or evil, and think of the good you could do with yours. Fire can be destructive, yes, but as a Hephaestus kid, you can build  _anything_  Leo, and fire's just a bonus. You're awesome, Leo, and your gift  _can_  be used for good." Leo looked surprised, maybe at the new perspective, or maybe at the fact that I was allowing him to believe it. Then, his eyes shifted down as he began clearing out the plates.

"Maybe…maybe you're right, but…I'm telling you…it's not always a gift."

"You mean your mom?" Veon asked. We all looked to him in surprise. We hadn't told him that Leo's mother's death was because of Leo's fire…had we? He shrugged. "Sorry. But Leo, I know a thing or two about death. Once I confirmed your fire power, I could take a guess by the expression on your face when you talked about the night she died. You believe that because fire could take her and not you, it's your fault. But it's not. This…Dirt Lady, whoever she is, has been trying to ruin you for years, mess up your confidence and take away everything you care about. She's trying to make you feel like a failure, make you afraid to stand up to her. You are  _not_  a failure, Leo, you're important."

"That's what she said." Leo looked up, his eyes full of pain and I wanted to hug him, make it all go away. "She said I was meant to do something important, something that would make or break the prophecy about the seven demigods. That's what scares me. What if I'm not up to it?" I wanted to tell Leo it would be all right, but would it? Would he believe it? There was a lot in front of us, many challenges to face. If anyone were asked to have our powers, they'd probably accept without a second thought, but people like us knew it wasn't that easy. The whole, "with power comes great responsibility" was true, and that responsibility meant having all this weight on our shoulders. Veon said, "Those who are normal, wish to be special, and those who are special, wish to be normal." How true that was. It was scary, being a demigod, but at the same time, I couldn't imagine my life without it.

"Who do you think they are, the other four demigods?" Leo asked.

"Only you three, Leo, Jason, and Piper, are three from the Great Prophecy," Zyanya said. "The other four will come together with you soon enough. The four of  _us_  will be there to assist you along the way, but we aren't the four of the prophecy. The best work is done behind the scenes, my friend, and we'll be there to help you through your journey."

"Maybe the other four are on their own quest right now," Jason mused.

"I bet their sewer is nicer than ours," Leo said. A draft picked up, blowing toward the south of the tunnel.

"You guys should get some rest too," Jason said. "I can take first watch."

"I'll assist you," Zyanya said. "The rest of you, sleep would be recommended." We obeyed, not refusing the offer for a little rest, and I closed my eyes, my mind swirling to our group's pasts, and our futures.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review with comments, suggestions and tips to help me make this story as successful as possible. The next part will also be Emily's perspective (as I had planned to make these next two chapters one, but it got a little too long) and they group is going shopping.


	15. Pain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I once again must apologize for the length of the chapter, but there was a lot going on, and I didn't want to cut off this part of the story into a third part. Just make it to the end, and I promise, it's good. :)

First Person: Emily

When we all woke up, we continued down the tunnel. It twisted and turned, seeming to go on forever. I'm not sure what I expected, really, but I was a little surprised when I found polished steel elevator doors, each one engraved with a cursive letter M. Next to the elevator was a directory, like for a department store.

"M for Macy's?" Piper asked hopefully. "I think they have one in downtown Chicago."

"Or Monocle Motors like with the Cyclopes," Leo muttered. "Whoa, check out the directory. It is  _messed up_."

**Parking, Kennels, Main Entrance:** **Sewer Level**

**Furnishings and Café M:** **1**

**Women's Fashion and Magical Appliances:** **2**

**Men's Wear and Weaponry:** **3**

**Cosmetics, Potions, Poisons & Sundries: ** **4**

"Kennels for what?" Piper asked. "And what kind of department store has an entrance in a sewer?"

"What kind of department store has Weaponry and Potions?" Audrey asked sarcastically.

"Or sells poisons?" Leo added. "Man, what does "sundries" even mean? Is that like underwear?"

"It just means various items not worth wasting space on the directory for," Zyanya said. "So, where do we wanna start?"

"Uh, when in doubt, start at the top?" I suggested.

"Good enough for me," Veon said. "Everyone in!" When the doors on the fourth floor slid open, all of us had our weapons ready for trouble. Jason stepped out first, but then looked around, dropping his sword and seeing no threat.

"Guys, you might wanna see this," He said. We all walked out Piper's breath caught.

"This is  _not_  Macy's…" She muttered.

The department store looked like the inside of a kaleidoscope, the entire ceiling a stained glass mosaic with astrological signs around a giant sun, and the daylight streaming through it washing everything in thousands of different colors. The upper floors made a ring of balconies and around a huge central atrium so we could see all the way down to the ground floor, golden railings glittering brightly and were hard to look at. I'd always loved malls like this, being able to see the long drop. It made me both nervous, and excited for some reason.

Aside from the stained glass ceiling and the elevator, I couldn't see any other windows or doors, which worried me, but two sets of glass escalators ran between the levels. The carpeting was a riot of oriental patterns and colors, not to mention the weird merchandise on the racks. There was too much to take in at once, and I saw normal things at first, shirt racks and shoe trees mixed in with armored manikins, beds of nails, and fur coats that still seemed to be moving.

"Check it out!" Leo called, stepping to the railing and looking down. In the middle of the atrium, a fountain sprayed twenty feet into the air, changing color from red to yellow to blue. The pool glittered with gold coins and on either side of the fountain stood a gilded cage - like an over sized canary cage. Inside one, a miniature hurricane swirled, and lightning flashed before I realized someone had imprisoned the storm spirits, the cage shuddering as they tried to escape. In the second cage, frozen like a statue, was a short, buff satyr, holding a tree-branch club.

"Coach Hedge!" Piper announced. So that was the guy who'd been assigned to protect Jason, Piper and Leo back at the Grand Canyon. He looked a bit…different than I expected. "We have to get down there!"

"May I help you find something?" Someone asked and we all jumped. A woman had basically  _appeared_  in front of us. She wore an elegant black dress with diamond jewelry, and she looked like a retired fashion model, maybe fifty years old (not that I was one to judge someone's age based on appearance). Her long, dark hair swept over one shoulder, and her face was gorgeous in a surreal, a little  _too_  pretty, supermodel kind of way - thin, haughty, cold, and not quite human. She smiled.

"I'm so happy to see new customers. How may I help you?" We all looked to each other.

"Um, is this your store?" Jason asked. The woman nodded.

"I found it abandoned, you know. I understand so many stores are these days, but I decided this would make the perfect place. I love collecting tasteful objects, helping people, and offering quality goods at a reasonable price. So this seemed a good…how do you say…first acquisition in this country." There was a pleasing tone to her accent, and I couldn't tell where it was from, but she didn't seem hostile…for now. There was something still… _off_  about her, though. But Jason and the others seemed to relax.

"So you're new to America?" Jason asked.

"I am…new," The woman agreed. "I am the Princess of Colchis. My friends call me Your Highness. Now, what are you looking for." Jason stared for a moment before Piper poked him in the ribs.

"Jason…" He shook his head.

"Um, right. Actually, Your Highness…" He pointed to the gilded cage on the first floor. "That's our fiend down there, Gleeson Hedge, the satyr and…uh, can we have him back please?"

"Of course!" The princess agreed immediately. "I would love to show you my inventory. First, may I know your names?" Jason paused, but he didn't hesitate for long, clearly trusting this woman, and hoping that if we could get her to cooperate, we could get what we wanted and get out. There was something about this place that made me want to run for the elevator, but even Veon and Audrey were seeming relaxed, and it didn't look like I was gonna be able to convince them to leave for just a gut feeling. Besides, if this woman really was hostile, that would tip her off that I knew something was up, and I want to keep the advantage as long as I possibly could.

"Jason, I wouldn't-" Piper began.

"This is Piper, and this is Leo. I'm Jason."

"Veon, Audrey, Zy and Emily," Veon said quickly after, pointing to each person respectively. The princess looked to Jason, and just for a moment, I swear her face literally glowed, blazing with so much anger I could see her skull beneath her skin.  _NOW_  was a proper time to panic, but just as fast as it had come, the face disappeared and she returned to her normal self.

"Jason, what an interesting name," She said. "I think we'll have to make a special deal for you. Now, children, let's go shopping!" Piper looked to Leo and Jason, who hurriedly followed her, Veon and Audrey behind them. She, Zy and I exchanged worried glances before following too, though none of us were happy about it. I would've claimed this was a power over males, but even Audrey seemed engrossed in the princess's voice, and it was more powerful than any charm speak I'd heard before. But it wasn't really charm speak, more like…she was enforcing her will over yours, not just convincing you of something, but  _forcing_  you to believe you, giving you no choice. The princess gestured towards the cosmetics counter.

"Shall we start with potions?" She asked.

"Cool," Jason said.

"Um, guys?" Piper asked. "We're here to get the storm spirits and Coach Hedge. If this -  _princess_  - is really our friend-"

"Oh, I'm better than a friend, my dear, I'm a saleswoman," She said. Her diamonds sparkled, but her eyes glittered like a snake's - cold and dark. "Don't worry. We'll work our way down to the first floor, eh?" Leo nodded eagerly.

"Sure, yeah!" He said. "That sounds okay, right guys?"

"Sure, we have time, right?" Veon asked, and I couldn't believe it.  _Him?!_  He may have liked choir, but he was no shopper. Luckily for him, neither was Lucy, me or-

"This place is so cool," Audrey said, looking around. "We can stay for a few."

"Yes, now come along," The princess said. She walked off with the others, and the three of us didn't have much choice but to follow. "And here is the finest assortment of magical mixtures anywhere. Please, look around." The counter was crammed with bubbling beakers and smoking vials on tripods. Lining the display shelves were crystal flasks, some shaped like swans or honey bear dispensers. The liquids inside were every color, from glowing white to polka-dotted. Some smelled pleasant, like fresh-baked cookies or roses, but other smelled like burning tires, skunk spray, and gym lockers. The princess pointed to a blood red vial. A simple test tube with a cork stopper.

"This one will heal any disease," She explained.

"Cancer?" Leo asked. "Leprosy? Hangnails?"

"Any disease, sweet boy. And this vial will kill you very painfully." She pointed to a swan-shaped container with a blue liquid inside.

"Awesome," Veon said. I knew he was all about death, son of Hades and all, but there was almost a dazed and sleepy tone to his voice, like he was drunk or something.

"Uh, Veon, we have a job to do, remember?" I asked him cautiously.

"Job to do…right. Sure, but shopping first, okay?" I would've jumped back and shouted "who are you and what have you done to my friend?!" had this been a less tense situation. Oh. My. Hades. He had just said he  ** _WANTED TO SHOP!_**  No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO! N! O! Not in this life or the afterlife, or the next twenty lives and beyond. I must've died and gone to hell because this was literally my worst nightmare.

"Uh…Veon…?" Zy asked.

"Hm?" She stuck her face so close to his I was afraid she was going to kiss him, but she merely stared at him critically, but he just took a step back, not even flinching under her glare. "Yeesh, what's up, Zy? Oh, right, you're not a shopper, are you? Come on, lighten up for once, will ya?"

"Yeah," Audrey said. "Take a break from the whole crazy life thing. Wanna chose a potion?"

"We have potions that resist fire-" The princess began.

"Got that covered," Leo said.

"Indeed?" She studied Leo's face. "You don't appear to be wearing my trademark sunscreen…but no matter. We also have potions that cause blindness, sleep, insanity, or-"

"Wait," Piper said, staring at the red vile. "Could that potion cure a lost memory?" The princess narrowed her eyes.

"Yes, possibly. Why, dear. Have you forgotten something important?" Piper tried to keep her expression neutral, but her eyes wandered to Jason. If he remembered what he'd lost, that might help us in our quest. Of course, he could end up hating us if the right, or wrong, memories were triggered, and when his memories do eventually come back, I'd prefer to have known him longer, built a stronger connection. Just to be on the safe side, and all. And Piper couldn't stand to see Jason's face when he struggled with his memory, the Aphrodite I'd been given told me that much.

"How much?" Piper asked. The princess got a faraway look in her eyes.

"Well now…the price is always tricky. I love helping people, honestly, I do, and I always keep my bargains, but sometimes people try to cheat me." Her eyes drifted to Jason. "For instance, I once met a handsome young man who wanted a treasure from my father's kingdom. We made a bargain, and I promised to help him steal it."

"From your own dad?" Jason asked, still a bit dazed and in his trance.

"Oh, don't worry, I demanded a high price. They young man had to take me away with him. He was quite good looking, dashing, strong…" She looked to Piper. "I'm sure, my dear, you understand how one might be attracted to such a hero and want to help him." Then she moved to Veon and put her hand on his shoulder, looking at him like he was her favorite piece of art. "And it works in many ways, not just females to males. There are men who would do anything for a woman they cared for. Even be thrown into hell, wouldn't you agree?" But she was looking to Zyanya this time, whose eyes darted to the side, even as her head remained forward. Her eyes shot to the other side, and then snapped straight again. Her face was stoic, and she was glaring.

"Shut…up…" The princess put shrugged.

"At any rate, my hero had to do many impossible tasks. I'm not bragging when I say he couldn't have done them without me. I betrayed my own family to win the hero his prize, and still, he cheated me of my payment."

"Cheated?" Jason asked frowning, as if trying to remember something.

"That is messed up," Leo muttered. She patted his cheek affectionately.

"I'm sure you don't need to worry, Leo. You seem honest. You would always pay a fair price, wouldn't you?" Leo nodded.

"What were we buying again? I'll take two." Breathing and trying to keep my cool, I smiled.

"How could someone ever cheat you, ma'am?" I asked. "Why, you're just as amazing as any hero, and if what you say is true, he should never have been able to do such a thing to a woman."

"Oh, aren't you an adorable girl? Sadly, that is history."

"The vial, Your Highness," Piper interrupted. "How much?"

"What would you give for it, dear? I sense you would do anything." Her words washed over me and I felt the sudden urge to get that vile, no matter what, as though it had become my life's dreams and nothing would be complete without it. But there was also a twisting in my gut, a sense that this wasn't me. I felt like a weight was lifted off of me, like I could say yes so easily, pay any price, who cares what it was? But I also felt like I'd lose float away, never to touch the ground or have control again, and that terrified me. I would float away, like a balloon, and never feel the solid feeling of reality in my grasp again. And because of that, to the option of floating away, I said no.

"No, I won't pay  _any_  price," Piper said, summoning all her willpower to resist like I was. "But a fair price, maybe."

"And after that, we're leaving," I declared.

"Leaving?" Audrey asked. I breathed and tried to smile at them without losing my cool.

"Yes, leaving. Quest, remember?"

"You mean…after shopping?" Veon asked and I was prepared to slap him harder than I had Drew. Drew…Her voice had been nothing compared to this woman's. No wonder the four of them were dazed.

"Impressive," the princess said. "Not many people could resist my suggestions. Are you children of Aphrodite, my dear? Yes, I should've seen it. No matter. Perhaps we should show a little while long before you decide what to buy, hm?"

"But the vial-" Piper began, but the princess turned to the others.

"Now, would you all like to see more?"

"Sure," Jason said.

"Okay," Leo agreed.

"Let's go," Audrey added.

"Where to next?" Veon asked.

"Excellent," the princess said. "You'll need all the help you can get if you're to make it to the Bay Area."

"The Bay Area?" Piper asked, her hand slipping to her dagger. "Why the Bay Area?" The woman smiled.

"Well, that's where they all die, right?" She led them towards the escalators, the four of them still eager to shop.

"You want them to shop for their deaths?" Piper asked when the four of them went browsing with Zyanya keeping a close eye on them.

"Mmm," The princess said impassively as she blew dust off a display case of swords.

"I'm a seer, dear, and I know both of your secrets. Even that woman over there." She nodded towards Zyanya. "Being here like this…oh, she must be desperate."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Oh, we don't have to dwell on that, now do we? Besides, I have no doubt that even in this form, she could easily tear me apart should I say the wrong things. In any case, your friends are having a wonderful time." We looked over to see Leo trying on a hat that seemed to be made of enchanted fur as its ringed tail twitched and its little legs wiggled frantically as Leo walked. Jason was over ogling over men's sportswear, while Audrey was over looking at dresses. Oh, heavens no. Then there was Veon, who Zyanya was trying to talk to, snapping in front of his face, scowling, smiling, even getting desperate and flirting, but nothing worked, even as she kicked him in the shins in anger. He held his leg for a moment, before returning to a line of jewelry. He was looking at black jewelry, so at least there was  _some_  of him in there, but still.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I told you, dears, I'm the Princess of Colchis."

"Where's Colchis?" Piper asked. The princess's expression turned a little sad.

"Where  _was_  Colchis, you mean. My father ruled the far shores of the Black Sea, as far to the east as a Greek ship could sail in those days, but Colchis is no more, lost eons ago."

"Eons? How old  _are_  you?" She laughed.

"That is something a lady should avoid asking or answering. Let's just say the, ah, immigration process to enter your country took quite a while. My patron finally brought me through, though, and she made all of this possible." She swept her had across the department store.

"Patron…?"

"Oh, yes. She doesn't bring just anyone through, mind you. Only those who have special talents, such as me. And she really insists on so little, a store entrance that must be underground so she can, ah, monitor my clientele, and a favor every now and then. In exchange for a new life? Really, it was the best bargain I'd made in centuries."

"It is, admittedly, a good deal," I said, hoping to keep on her good side as long as possible.

"Hey, check it out!" Jason shouted over. He was standing over by a rack labeled  **Distressed Clothing**  and held up a purple T-shirt like he'd worn, only this shirt looked like it had been mauled by tigers. "Why does this look so familiar?" Jason asked, frowning.

"Jason, it's like  _yours_ ," Piper said. "Now we really have to leave.

"Nonsense, they aren't done," The princess said. "And yes, my dear, those shirts are very popular, they're trade-ins from the previous customers. It suits you well." Leo picked up an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt with a hole through the middle, as though it had been hit by a javelin. Next to that was a dented bronze breastplate pitted with corrosion from acid, maybe, and a Roman toga slashed to pieces and stained with, what I hoped wasn't, but looked very similar to, blood.

"You're Highness?" Piper asked, still focusing on keeping her cool. "Why don't you tell the boys how you betrayed your family? I'm sure they'd love to hear the story." Though Piper's words didn't affect the princess, the others turned.

"More story?" Leo asked.

"Really?" Audrey asked.

"I like more stories!" Jason agreed, and I realized their brains really were melting away as they started to talk like three year olds! Only Veon didn't respond, as Zyanya was still trying to keep his attention. The princess flashed Piper an irritated look.

"Oh, one will do strange things for love, Piper. You should understand that. I fell for that young hero because your mother, Aphrodite, had me under a spell. If it wasn't for her…but I can't hold a grudge against a goddess, right?" Her tone and gaze made it clear she was saying,  _But I_ can _take it out on you!_  And I hoped Piper hadn't just ruined any leverage we had.

"But that hero took you with him when he fled Colchis," Piper remembered. "Didn't he, Highness? He married you just as he promised." The princess's gaze grew ever more intense, but Piper didn't back down.

"At first," Her Highness admitted. "It seemed he would keep his word, at first, but even after I helped him steal my father's treasure, he  _still_  needed my help. As we fled, my brother's fleet came after us, and his warships overtook us. He would have destroyed us, but I convinced my brother to come aboard our ship first and talk under a flag of truce. He trusted me."

"And you killed your own brother," Piper declared, seemingly remembering something about the woman's true origins.

"What?" Jason stirred.

"Killed your own-?" Audrey began.

"Brother?" Leo finished.

"No," The princess snapped. "Those stories are all lies. It was my new husband and his men that killed my brother, though they couldn't have done it without my deception. They threw his body into the sea, and the pursuing fleet had to stop and search for him so they could give my brother a proper burial. This gave us time to get away. All this, I did for my husband, and he forgot our bargain. He betrayed me in the end.

"What did he do?" Jason asked, still looking uncomfortable, and almost like himself.

"Don't you know? You of all people should; you were named after him."

"Jason," I said. "The  _original_  Jason."

"But then you're…you should be dead!" Piper said, and the princess smiled.

"As I said, a new life in a new country. I certainly made mistakes, turning on my own people, called a traitor, a thief, a liar, and murderess, but I acted out of love." She turned to the boys and gave them a pitiful look, her magic taking them again. "Wouldn't you do the same for someone you loved, dears?"

"Oh, sure," Jason said.

"Okay," Leo agreed.

"Of course," Audrey said, nodding.

"Guys!" Piper said angrily. I sighed when I realized Piper was fighting a futile battle. We needed a way around that. This was a battle of slyness, two charm speakers against each other. Charm speaking was a sneaky and dirty way of fighting, allowing one to win a battle by barely batting an eye, but with two charm speakers against each other, there was no way Piper was going to be able to counter sweet and blissful lies with the cold, harsh truth. There wasn't a way to get charm speak on her side in that sense.

"Let's continue, shall we?" The princess asked. "I believe you wanted to negotiate the price for the storm spirits and you satyr."

When we made our way down to the second floor, Leo got distracted by some appliances. I noticed Veon standing a bit behind the group, and though he was still looking around, his had his left hand clenched into a fist. It may not have been suspicious, had his right had not been completely opened and relaxed. I wondered if he even realized his hand was in a fist, as though his subconscious was trying to tell him to wake up. Maybe Zyanya had gotten through to him somehow. We followed over to where Leo was, and found he was looking at a big oval oven that looked like a barbecue oven on steroids.

"You have good taste," The princess said. "This is the H-2000, designed by Hephaestus himself. Hot enough to melt Celestial Bronze or Imperial Gold." Jason flinched, as though he recognized that term.

"Imperial Gold?" She nodded.

"Yes, my dear. Like that weapon you so cleverly concealed in your pocket. To be properly forged, Imperial Gold had to be consecrated in the Temple of Jupiter at Capitoline Hill in Rome. It's quite a rare and powerful metal, but like the Roman emperors, quite volatile, so be sure never to break that blade. Rome was  _after_  my time, of course, but I do hear stories, and now, over here, this golden throne is one of my finest luxuries. Hephaestus made it as punishment for his mother, Hera. Sit in it and you'll be immediately trapped." Hadn't Zyanya mentioned Hephaestus capturing Hera and making her apologize for tossing him down that mountain…? Leo apparently took the princess's words as an order, as he slowly began walking towards it in a trance.

"Leo, don't!" Piper shouted and he blinked.

"How much for both?" He asked.

"Oh, the seat I could let you have for five great deeds. The forge, seven years of servitude, and for only a bit of your strength-" She led Leo to the appliance section, giving him prices on various items. Piper took that moment to try and snap Jason out of it, but he was still mesmerized. Zy was still shadowing Veon, but she wasn't still trying to snap him out of anything, just staring at him like he was a mysterious creature she was studying. His hand was still in a fist, but it seemed to be shifting, as though he was moving whatever was inside around insecurely. Of course, the rest of him didn't seem to notice what his left hand was doing or held, and we had to continue down to the bottom floor.

"Hey, Coach Hedge looks okay!" Leo announced, running to his cage. The satyr seemed to be petrified at the moment he was taken, his mouth frozen mid-shout, his club raised over his head like he was ordering a gym class to drop and give him fifty. His curly hair stuck up in odd angles, and he had a wispy goatee, but the most obvious things about him were his stubby horns on his head, and his furry goat legs and hooves that showed he was a satyr.

"Yes," The princess, said. "I always keep my wares in good condition. We can certainly barter for the storm spirits and the satyr, a package deal. If we come to terms, I'll even throw in a vial of healing potion and you'll be on your merry way in peace." She looked to Piper. "That's better than starting unpleasantness, isn't it dear?"

"We can negotiate," I said, before Piper's resistance led to anymore trouble. We needed to get along with this girl for now, and though Piper's resistance to her charm speak was useful, I couldn't let this go down the drain unless it absolutely had to. If a fight were to start, I'm not sure the boys and Audrey would be on our side at this point.

"Totally! Name your price!" Leo said.

"Leo!" Piper snapped.

"Name my price?" The princess asked, chuckling. "Perhaps not the best haggling strategy, my boy, but at least you know a thing's value. Freedom is very valuable indeed. You would ask me to release this satyr who attacked my storm winds-"

"Who attacked us first," Piper interjected. Her Highness shrugged.

"As I said, my patron asks me for small favors from time to time. Sending the storm spirits to abduct you; that was one. I assure you, it was nothing personal, and no harm done! You came here, in the end, of your own free will! At any rate, you want the satyr, and you want my storm spirits, who are very valuable servants, by the way, so you can hand them over to that tyrant Aeolus. Doesn't seem quite fair, does it? The price shall be quite high."

"You're Medea," Piper said. "You helped the original Jason steal the Golden Fleece. You're one of the most evil villains in Greek mythology. Guys, you can't trust her." The desperation and intensity Piper put into her words were enough to seemingly do something, as Jason stepped away from the sorceress and Leo scratched his head, looking around like he was coming out of a trance.

"What are we doing again?" He asked.

"Uh, something important?" Audrey guessed. Veon's face merely dropped, as though a weight had suddenly been out on his shoulders, but he was no longer distracted by the scenery, and I had never been so happy to see him scowl.

"Please, ladies and gentleman," Medea said. "It's true, I'm Medea, but I'm so misunderstood. Oh, Piper, my dear, you don't know what it was like for a woman in those days. We had no power, no leverage, often we couldn't even choose our own husbands, but  _I_  was different. I chose my own destiny by becoming a sorceress. Is that so wrong? I made a pact with Jason: my help to win the fleece in exchange for his love, a fair deal. He became a famous hero! Without me, he would've died unknown on the shores of Colchis." Jason scowled.

"So you really did die three thousand years ago?" He asked. "You came back from the Underworld?"

"Father would be displeased if I were to just stand by and allow that," Veon said threateningly. He was back! I nearly sighed in relief, but I knew it wasn't over yet.

"Death no longer holds me, children," Medea declared. "Thanks to my patron, I am flesh and blood again, and I am free from Hades' judgment."

"Y-You reformed…? Like a monster?" Leo asked. Medea spread her fingers, steam hissing from her nails like water splashed on a hot iron.

"You have no idea what's happening, do you, my dears? It is so much worse than a stirring of monsters from Tartarus. My patron knows that giants and monsters are not her greatest servants.  _I_  am mortal, I learn from my mistakes, and now that I have returned to the living, I will not be cheated again. Now, here is my price for what you ask."

"Guys, the original Jason left Medea because she was crazy and bloodthirsty," Piper said.

"Lies!" Medea declared.

"On the way back from Colchis, Jason's ship landed at another kingdom, and Jason agreed to dumb Medea and marry the king's daughter.

"After I bore him two children! Still he broke his promise! I ask you, was that right?"

"I may not have been right, but neither was Medea's revenge. She murdered her own children to get back at Jason. She poisoned his new wife and fled the kingdom."

"An invention to ruin my reputation! The people of the Corinth, that unruly mob, killed my children and drove me out. Jason did nothing to protect me, robbed me of everything. So yes, I snuck back into the palace and poisoned his lovely new bride. It was only fair, a suitable price for what he'd done."

"You're insane."

"I'm the victim! I died with my dreams shattered, but no longer. I know now not to trust heroes, and when they come asking for treasures, they will pay a heavy price. Especially when the one asking has the name of Jason!" Piper reached for her dagger, but her hand was shaking.

"Guys it's time to go.  _Now_."

"Before you've closed the deal? What of your quest, boys? My price is so easy. This fountain is magic; should a dead man be thrown into it, even should he be chopped to pieces, he would pop back out fully formed - stronger and more powerful than ever!"

"Seriously?" Leo asked.

"She's lying," Piper declared. "She did that trick with somebody before, a king. She convinced his daughter to cut him to pieces so he could come out of the water young and healthy again, but it just killed him!"

"Ridiculous. My price is simple. The four of you shall fight two on two. Jason, Leo! You two would be perfect. And Veon and Audrey. If you get injured, or even killed, no problem. We just throw you in the fountain and you'll be better than ever. You  _do_  want to fight, don't you? You absolutely resent each other!"

"No!" Piper and I shouted. Leo and Jason were friends, and no way did I want them to fight, but Veon and Audrey were a breaking point for me. Screw the rules. I was  _not_  having my best friends fight, especially children of the Great Three. Who knows what kind of havoc they could unleash, especially if they weren't concerned about casualties.

"Jason's always the star," Leo said, glaring at his friend. "He always gets the credit and attention and takes me for granted."

"You're annoying Leo," Jason countered. "You never take anything seriously and can't even fix a dragon."

"Will you stop brooding in your own damn mind and wake up?" Audrey asked Veon. "You're such a spoiled brat. Just because you've met the gods and have all these powers doesn't make you any better than a monster. You like other's pain, you chose the darkness over your friends and the light. You're a mistake; you never should've happened."

" _I'm_  the mistake?" Veon asked. "What purpose could you possibly have in the world? You can move water; good for you. What's the water cycle for, genius? At least I've met my father,  _and_  yours, by the way. The gods respect me, and I'll bet your dad doesn't even know your name."

"Stop it! Stop it right now!" I shouted, and surprisingly, they did. Piper and Medea were talking about something, so that gave me the chance to win back the others. I was a daughter of Hestia, and keeping peace among the gods was my mother's thing. "You are best friends. You don't hate each other, you don't feel any resentment. Tell me, please, tell me what's wrong and don't strike with your swords. It'll do you no good, you'll never feel better, and you'll only feel worse. Jason, Leo is always trying to make you smile, even when you don't have the strength to yourself. He had fixed Festus better than anyone ever has before, and he is your best friend. He laughs when times are tough, and he makes sure you don't fall into whatever pit the world's trying to drag you into. Sometimes he acts immature and he jokes around, but that's why you like him. He's always able to look on the bright side even in the darkest times, and you've had a tough few days, and maybe you don't know him very well, but he's still supported you all the way, making this quest fun and less daunting. He even saved your freaking life from a Cyclops earlier!

"Leo, Jason may seem like a star to you, but the only reason he has become that, is because he has you supporting him the entire way. No hero is alone, and there is no such thing as a sidekick. You're his partner in crime, even if he seems to get the spotlight. Is that what you want? To have eyes on you all the time, to hold a burden you may get overwhelmed with on your shoulders 24/7? Jason has braved through such a weight only because he has a friend like you keeping him afloat. Out of all the experienced people in the Hephaestus cabin to chose, he chose  _you_ , his best friend to come on this quest. And maybe the time you had together was just a trick of the Mist or whatnot, but these past few days have been real, and you both rely on each other more than you're willing to admit. You don't hate each other, you don't want to fight.

"Ve, Audrey has been through a lot in her life, but she's dealing with it in her own way. You can't see it, can you? She was talking about herself. Ever since she learned who she was, she's considered herself mistake. The Great Three aren't allowed to have children, and though she was considered a good mistake, even Chiron called her a mistake all the same. That's hurt her, wounded her, and made her feel like an outcast. But all of us are outcasts, and you should understand her better than anyone else. You're a child of the Great Three as well, and of Hades. The dead are your preference, and slowly but surely, the living world as become worse than school. You have to go to it, and you feel uncomfortable and can even hate every second of it, but there are some perks. Like your friends. Us! We're not gonna let you fall into the darkness, at least not without one heck of a fight. But no swords, no powers, just words.

"Audrey, I know you think Ve has it better than you, but he doesn't! We're all suffering under this burden that our parents put on us. Ve may have met a lot of gods, but what do you think they see him as? A great and powerful respected demigod? The gods don't see him that way. He's just another kid to them, a kid who's not strong enough to do anything worthy of their attention. So he's tried, and perhaps he's tried too hard, because he's falling into the shadows, nearly losing himself in the process. This power you think is a gift to him is actually the scariest thing in existence. He's terrified, but he makes it through every day because he's become friends with us! Maybe he didn't know we were demigods until a couple days ago, but that didn't change a thing about us. We see each other differently, but we're still a team. All of us."

I felt the words coming out of my mouth, even if I didn't understand a lot of them, or where they came from. I just knew. I knew exactly what to say, and I knew things that they'd probably never been able to admit aloud. So Ve was afraid of fading into the shadows, of not being good enough to the gods? Audrey was afraid of being an outcast because of her forbidden existence? Maybe I'd known these things about my friends, maybe I hadn't noticed it before. But I felt it now. Their hearts were scarred, torn apart, suffering, but I knew exactly how to mend them. I fell to my knees, a wave of exhaustion taking me. And words continued to spill out, even if I hadn't told them to, and even if only in a whisper.

"You are afraid of not being enough, pushing people to anger and hatred so that others heart's are broken all because of you. Hatred, sadness, fear and pain in someone else's heart are like a dagger to yours. Tearing out your soul with the guilt, the empathy. What if someone can't be fixed? What if their hearts are scared in a way that can't be mended…and what if it's your fault? If you don't keep people smiling, if people hurt and you don't try to help, then you will hurt as well. Even if it's not your fault, even if there's nothing you can do, even if it's someone who's evil, who deserves it, it kills you if even one person you cross paths with has suffered and you haven't helped them. You have to stop, stop and let people cry sometimes. But you can't. It's a poison, a drug, an addiction of the worst kind. But it's okay to let people cry, it's okay to let people suffer sometimes…but only because if someone can feel pain, it means they can feel happiness too. Every heart can be healed, but sometimes it's okay to let them cry. Let yourself…"

"…lured my dad into a trap," Piper was saying. Right, there are still hearts to heal. "You helped the giant-"

"Oh please, dear. You'll work yourself into a fit! I've been preparing for this war for years, even before I was brought back to life. I'm a seer, as I said. I can tell the future as well as your little oracle. Years ago, still suffering in the Fields of Punishment, I have a vision of your so-called Great Prophecy. I saw your friend Leo here, and saw that he would be an important enemy one day. I stirred the consciousness of my patron, and gave her this information. She managed to wake just a little, just enough to visit him."

"Leo's mother…Leo! Listen to me! She helped get your mother killed!" But Leo wasn't listening. Not because he was ready to fight Jason, because he'd barely heard her. My words calmed his heart so he wouldn't fight Jason, but also so that he wouldn't register the pain he'd felt for his mother. No…I did that. I stopped his anger, and I stopped his pain. I'd stopped everything! All four of them stood, still facing their opponent with weapons drawn, but staring off into space. My words were mean to encourage them, not shut them down completely!  _It's okay to let them cry. If they can feel pain, it means they can feel happiness too_. Let them go…

"Attack Jason, Leo!" Medea order. "It's perfectly safe. And Jason, strike him hard. Show me you are worthy of your name sake! Veon, Audrey! Show me the powers of the children of the Great Three! It's okay. Anyone gets hurt, and we can fix them with the fountain!" The four of them shifted slightly, coming out of their trances. I let them go, let them feel again. That may have made them susceptible to Medea, but it was better than the alternative. I knew that, I could accept that.

"No!" Piper shouted, seeing them move being charmed again and moving to fight. "Please! She's tricking you! Put down your weapons!"

"Please, girl, you are no match for me. I trained with my aunt, the immortal Circe. I can drive men mad or heal then with my voice. What hope do these puny heroes have against me? Now kill each other!"

"Feel," I muttered. "Feel what  _you_  wish to, do not feel what  _she_  wants." I slowly picked myself up and stood, words continuing to spill out without my consent, but I knew. I knew they were the right thing to say. "Medea influences you! It's a part of her magic! But you have the right to feel your own emotions, pain, but also happiness. Now, allow yourself to choose on your own! Do not fight each other! Fight  _her!_ " All of them looked to me, but this time, I wasn't taking their emotions away, I was giving them to them. Letting them gain control of themselves, and shattering Medea's spell.

"Leo, was I just about to stab you?" Jason asked.

"Something about my…?" Leo began.

"Mother…?" Veon finished. Leo turned to Medea.

"You…you're working for Dirt Woman. You sent her to the machine shop that night!" He lifted his arm. "Lady, I got a three-pound hammer with our name on it!"

"She nearly made me buy an f-ing dress!" Audrey shouted, the water from the fountain boiling at her anger. "She's dead now."

"You think  _you_  have it bad, Audrey?" Veon asked, drawing his sword. "You realize I nearly bought jewelry, right?!" I smiled. Those were my friends. Worrying more about the fact that they nearly went shopping rather than the fact that they nearly killed each other. I suddenly felt myself pulled to my feet, and found Zyanya standing next to me. I felt regenerated with energy, even after my stunt playing with emotions.

"Still a team, right?" She asked, grabbing my dagger and passing it to me. I nodded and took the dagger, even if I knew I wasn't going to be using much of it. It was a symbol that I had changed, changed for the better.

"All of us."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, apologies for the length, but if you've made it this far, I salute you. Please review with suggestions and tip for the story so I can make it as enjoyable as possible to readers.


	16. Escapes and Thoughts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the shortness of this chapter, but the last one was so long that I couldn't possibly fit this in, so I had to cut it off, making this one very short. The next chapter should have come out right after this, so no long wait with just this chapter to keep readers occupied. Please review so I can make this a successful and interesting story.

First Person: Audrey

"Bah! I'll simply collect my payment another way!" Medea sneered before pressing one of the mosaic tiles on the floor, the building beginning to rumble. Jason swung his sword at Medea, but she dissolved into smoke and reappeared at the base of the escalator. "You are slow, hero! Take your frustration out on my pets!" Before any of us could go after her, the giant bronze sundials at either end of the fountain swung open, and two snarling, flesh and blood dragons crawled out from the pits below. Each was the size of a camper van, maybe no large compared to Festus, but large enough to pose a threat.

"So that what was in the kennels," Leo said meekly. The dragons spread their wings and hissed, heat coming off their glittering skin, and one turning to Piper with its angry orange eyes.

"Don't look them in the eye!" Jason warned. "They'll paralyze you!"

"Indeed!" Medea said, riding up the escalator and leaning on the handrail as she watched the fun. "These two dears have been with me a long time. Sun dragons, you know, gifts from my grandfather Helios. They pulled my chariot when I left Corinth, and now they will be your destruction. Ta-ta!" The dragons attacked, one going for Leo, Jason and Emily while the other went for me, Veon and Zy. I saw Piper out of the corner of my eye, racing after Medea to get to the top floor. To the potions. I may be able to control the liquids depending on what they are (some could be resistant to control because who knows what's in some?), but if I didn't know what they did, I could accidentally end up making the dragon invincible or fully heal him when I meant to make him blind or weaken it.

Zyanya charged straight in to punch the dragon dead in the snout, and as it reared back its head to roar, Veon jumped on its back and grabbed its wings, his hands vibrating before the wings began to vibrate too and then turn to dust. The dragon roared again and tried to shake him off like a bull rider, and with its wing turned to dust, he had nothing to hold on to and went flying. I opened my water bottle and sent my snake of water over to expand into a trampoline-like oval that caught him safety and set him to the ground. Meanwhile Leo was blowing his safety whistle while Emily and Jason were shouting to get the attention of their dragon.

"Aren't you a cute little thing? You don't wanna kill us, no!" Emily encouraged. I sent my whip of water to the dragon and though it wasn't enough water to knock it off its feet, it was enough to slice through its flesh if I willed it to. Zy was now shooting the dragon with bullets, but though they penetrated its skin, it only seemed to make it angrier as it endured the pain of our attacks. It tried to look to us, petrify one of us, but when it looked to Zyanya, she was unharmed even as she ran up once more, staring the dragon dead in the eye. She punched it back again with a powerful swing, and then Veon ran up with his sword, slashing the dragon across the chest. The dragon was big, but we had diversity and numbers on our side, and while I blasted my stream of water at the dragon's face, keeping it distracted, Veon stabbed his sword into the monster and it vibrated before the entire thing began to turn grey, starting from his sword and then moving to the rest of it. It was just like what happened to the hydra before, as the monster turned to stone before dissolving into a pile of ash. Veon then fell forward and I was afraid he'd be passed out for another day, but Zy caught him before he face-planted and nodded he was okay.

"No! Down boy! No killing!" Emily shouted and we turned to see the other dragon had pinned down Jason and Leo in either front arm, Jason's sword a good deal away. "I said, STOP!" And it did. Emily's words made me want to stand down and take a nap, who cares about fighting for our lives anyway? I sheathed my water before sitting down, and the dragon stepped off of Jason and Leo carefully before doing the same. "Good boy, now look over that way, not at us. No petrifying here. We don't want that, do we?" Emily was forcing her will upon the dragon, and it worked. No petrifying here. The dragon turned toward the wall and sat down like an obedient dog, staring like that wall had something interesting on it.

"Nice job, Em!" I called, and she breathed before smiling and holding a thumbs-up.

"Fools!" Medea wailed and we looked to see her and Piper on the top floor. Piper had apparently thrown something because Medea was covered in potions and Piper was still at the top of the escalator. "Do you have any idea what so many potions will do when mixed?!"

"Kill you?" Piper said hopefully. Well I was no alchemist, but I knew that was bad if chemistry class was anything to go by. The carpet began to steam around Medea's feet, and she coughed, her face contorted in pain. It might've been a trick, but I knew that she was in trouble with so many potions. The power of a voice didn't make you invincible. Unless you were in Emily's position, of course, but…beside the point.

"You've doomed us all!" Medea screamed, smoke rolling across the carpet as the stain spread and threw sparks to set clothing racks on fire. "You have only seconds before this concoction consumes everything and destroys the building! There's no time-" But she was interrupted by a large  _CRASH!_  The stained glass ceiling splintered in a rain of multicolored shards, and Festus the bronze dragon dropped into the department store.

"That's my boy!" Leo shouted, and I whooped in agreement. Festus landed, and we all moved to board him, Veon now back on his feet thanks to Zy's healing. The whole fourth floor was on fire now, the air filled with noxious gas.

"I will not be abandoned again!" Medea declared before kneeling and snatching up the red healing potion that somehow survived. "You want your boyfriend's memory restored? Take me with you!" Festus began to fly up, grabbing the cages with the venti and that Hedge satyr while he was at it, and Emily seemed most determined to get to Piper and get her to safety. The building rumbled, fire and smoke curling up the walls, melting the railings and turning the air to acid. We needed to get out of here now. I pushed and willed the smoke to stay clear of Piper, but this mix of potions was deadly, and it wasn't going to be held back forever.

"You will never survive your quest without me!" Medea declared. "Your boy hero will stay ignorant forever, and your father will die! Take me with you!" Piper hesitated for a second, but as she saw Medea's confidence, Piper knew easily how to resist. Medea wouldn't help us in any way during this quest. We save her, and she'd just turn on us the moment we were clear of this building.

"Not today, witch," Piper declared before jumping over the edge. She plummeted for only a second before Emily stood on the dragon to catch her. Emily nearly lost her balance, but the rest of us were there for her and hauled Piper onto the dragon. We heard Medea's screams as Festus soared through the broken roof and over downtown Chicago.

"Some hearts can never be healed…" Emily muttered behind me just before the department store exploded. I half expected someone or something to follow us, but nothing did, and we made it out of Chicago by sunset.

"Good job, Festus," Leo said, patting the dragon's metal hide. "You did awesome." The dragon shuddered, gears popping and clicking in his neck. I knew the dragon well enough to know that might not be a good thing. "I'll give you and tune-up the next time we land. You've earned some Tabasco sauce and motor oil." Festus whirled his teeth, but even that sounded weak. He was now carrying all seven of us and two giant metal cages. We'd best free that Hedge as soon as we can, cut down on the load. Of course, even giant metal dragon's had their limits, and I did  _not_  want a repeat of earlier today, falling to our doom and having Veon risk his life for us.

It scared me how easily we'd been deceived back there, and it wasn't really deception. It was just Medea bringing out the things we'd kept deep inside, even to ourselves. I knew now that I'd never be jealous of Veon, right? But I guess I was, deep down. He'd told me he'd met the gods, he has all these powers from his dad, and seemed to fit in perfectly as a demigod. Chiron had once told me that I was a mistake because of my parentage, back when I'd first met him, but because this Percy guy was so great, I was a  _good_ mistake. But he didn't say I wasn't a mistake, he didn't even say my half-brother wasn't a mistake either. It shouldn't bother me as much as it does, but…I've been fighting monsters since before anyone else, stuck living on my own with my adoptive parents and little brother, and Veon's already met his dad, and mine for that matter. What if he was right? What if Poseidon didn't even know my name? Didn't even care to come visit me when I was eight and things started, or when I was thirteen and things  _should've_  started. He never came to see me, even in my dreams like with others, or here now that I'd been claimed. It almost felt as though his claiming was just my imagination, my hopes that somehow my father actually cared.

But Emily's words came back to me. Sure, I was insecure about these things, and it sucked to have your dad never show up even when he was a god. But Ve wasn't a hero or some great demigod to the rest of the gods. He was just another mortal, a forbidden son of Hades trying to play with fire. So he'd been trying, trying to win the gods approval, but nearly losing himself in the process. His powers were in the shadows, with death and darkness. Was all of our joy and perkiness annoying to him because of that? How could I have not seen something like that? It should've been obvious if that was truly the case, right? I guess it didn't matter, so long as I knew now and was going to help him. And my friends would help me too, I guess. We were a team, and Jason, Piper and Leo were our friends. We'd make it through whatever struggles we held deep in our hearts, and we wouldn't be alone.

But Veon…he was surprisingly quite. He usually tried to start a conversation during awkward silence, saying something stupid, random, or both just to get a conversation started, even if the conversation was about how he just randomly blurted out something. But right now, he was quiet. I hadn't noticed it while I was brainwashed, but now I realized he had something in his left hand he was gripping tightly. He  _did_  get some jewelry! But he didn't look guilty like he'd stolen it, or like he was happy to have it. More like he was afraid if he opened his hand, whatever was inside would kill him.


	17. A Wife and Son of Hades

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review with suggestions and tips to make this story as successful as possible. I hope readers enjoy.

First Person: Zytaveon

I stared at my fist, clenched around a ring that I'd found at that department store. It looked near identical to the one I wore on my right middle finger, a simple black ring with a silver skull engraved on it. Memories flooded in, ones I'd forgotten, or chose to forget. Oh gods of Egypt, how could I forget…?!

" ** _This will protect you from his wrath. It has happened before, but it won't happen again. No! Run! Mommy! Daddy! Help me!_** "

"Veon?"

"Hm?" I turned to find Emily, who'd put her hand on my shoulder to shake me out of my thoughts.

"Are you okay?"

"Uh…yeah. Just still a bit brainwashed, you know? I actually wanted to go shopping?" She smiled.

"I know, right? I couldn't believe it either."

"Thanks for saving me. Us, I mean. All of you."

"Well, a world where you enjoy shopping is a world I don't wanna live in," Zyanya said. "Honestly, I kicked you in the shins and you didn't listen to me, and I kicked you  _very_  hard."

"Uh, yeah, were you also flirting with me before that?"

"Yeah, and apparently I am not enough for you, Death-Breath," She said, crossing her arms dramatically and putting on her best scowl before it broke into a smile. "But seriously. Mention that to anyone ever again, and you get to go visit your father the hard way." I smiled.

"Lips are sealed."

"We're going to have to put down soon," Leo announced. "Couple more hours, maybe, to make sure Medea's not following us, but I don't think Festus can fly much longer than that."

"Yeah, Coach Hedge probably wants to get out of his canary cage too," Piper agreed. "Question is, where are we going?"

"The Bay Area," Leo guessed, and I remember something about the Bay Area from the department store, even if things were still coming back to me. "Didn't Medea say something about Oakland?"

"Piper's dad," Jason put in. "Something's happened to your dad, right? He got lured into some kind of trap."

"I do remember that, Piper," Emily said. "Please, tell us if something's wrong." Piper let out a shaky breath, but I could sense Emily wasn't trying to influence her. If anything, Em was trying hard  _not_  to make Piper say anything. I did hear what Emily had muttered under her breath before Medea tried to get us to fight each other again. She had been talking about herself. She needed to let other people feel sad when they wanted to, and then help make them smile. She couldn't make everyone happy all the time, but she could still be the one pulling people out of slumps, and that was the Emily I wanted.

"Look, Medea said you'd all  _die_  in the Bay Area. And besides…even if we went there, the Bay Area is huge! First, we need to find Aeolus and drop off the storm spirits. Boreas said Aeolus was the only one who could tell us exactly where to go."

"I will help lighten our load," I agreed. "And we can go directly to our goal point. Find Aeolus, drop of storm spirits and hopefully unfreeze that satyr of yours, and then we head to our destination."

"So how do we find Aeolus?" Leo asked.

"You mean you don't see it?" Jason asked. He pointed ahead of them, but I didn't see anything except clouds and the lights of a few towns glowing in the dusk.

"What?" Audrey asked.

"That…whatever it is in the air." All of us looked to each other, but only Zyanya didn't look confused. The rest of us couldn't see a thing.

"Right," Leo said. "Could you be a little more specific on the "whatever-it-is" part?"

"Like a vapor trail, except its glowing. It's real faint, but it's definitely there. We've been following it since Chicago, so I figured you saw it."

"Festus seems to be able to sense it," Zy said. "It's always possible Aeolus made it for us to follow. It could be a magic trail in the wind. With Aeolus a wind god, he has to know we have some prisoners for him and is leading the way."

"Or it could be another trap," Piper said. Her tone worried me, as she didn't sound nervous but guilty, like she'd led us to our deaths, our fates were sealed and it was all her fault.

"Pipes, you all right?" Leo asked, noticing the tone too.

"Don't call me that."

"Okay, fine, you don't like any of the names I make up for you, but if your dad's in trouble and we can help-"

"You can't. Look, I'm tired. If you don't mind…" She leaned back against Jason and closed her eyes. Okay, clear sign she doesn't wanna talk.

"I don't see any other directions," I said. "Unless one of you knows the way to Aeolus's place?"

"He should be in the direction," Zy said. "Just follow it."

"They're right, Leo," Emily said. "Even if it is a trap, we have no other clear way to go, and we need to find Aeolus and get the location of Hera soon. We're running out of time." Leo sighed.

"All right, Festus, follow that trail." Festus didn't really need the command, as he already seemed to know where he was going. It was a long ride of pure silence, giving me too much time to think. Think about the ring that I still gripped tightly in my hand.

"Ve, get some rest," Zy said behind me in a whisper. "You clearly need it. You look like you've aged ten years, Death-Head."

"I'm just thinking."

"Well sleep it off. We need you in top condition, and even with my help, dissolving a dragon drained you." I had to admit, she was right. I took the ring, and I slipped it onto my left middle finger without looking at it before lying and falling asleep against the dragon. That was a mistake.

My dreams weren't ever good or bad. This time, I didn't know what to think of them at first. Thing were blurry, and my head was as clear as any other dream, that is to say, not very. I just heard voices at first, end even those were fuzzy and blurred so I could barely understand what they were saying.

" _Mommy, why doesn't daddy stay?_ " A little boy asked.

" _Because he has work,_ " A woman replied.

" _Can he teleport?_ "

" _Yes. And he'll be there even when you think you're alone_."

" _Where do you work, daddy?_ "

" _Everywhere, and nowhere,_ " A familiar male voice said.

" _Huh?_ " The man laughed lightly.

" _Nothing you need to concern yourself with. Just stay with your mother and look after her while I'm gone. Can you do that?_ "

" _Yes sir!_ "

" _This will protect you from his wrath. It has happened before, but it won't happen again._ " Now, I saw something. A little boy dressed in a black T-shirt and black shorts, barefoot. He had a mop of black hair that looked like he'd just woken up in the morning, and he was peeking around a doorframe, the door cracked only slightly open. " _The rings should be able to protect you and your souls._ "

" _You shouldn't have stayed with us so long, kept coming back. Not if it gets you in trouble,_ " The woman from before said on the other side of the door.

" _Aya, I knew the risks better than anyone, and I still came,_ " The familiar male voice said.

" _But you…shouldn't have._ "

" _Yet here we are. I shouldn't have, I know, but I still did, and now you need to stay safe._ "

" _I'm not saying no, and I'm not saying I'm unhappy with you or him. I'm saying thank you. You told me that you guys don't stick around and yet, you did. It means you care, and I understand why this happens. He knew you, which is all that matters._ "

" _Give him this one._ "

" _Can't you…say goodbye? He can't just wake up and be told you're never coming back._ "

" _Wouldn't it hurt more if he saw me walking away personally?_ "

" _I…suppose._ "

" _I hate this, Aya, I do. But if my brother-_ "

" _I know. It was never meant to be, but you made it better than it could have been._ "

" _You're going away, daddy?_ " The boy asked. The woman and man gasped, realizing the boy had been listening, and hurried over, the woman trying to explain, but all the little boy could understand was that he'd never see his father again. The woman looked to be part Asian, part Caucasian, not completely one or the other, with black hair and brown eyes. Maybe it was the cloudiness of being in a dream, but I swear I've seen her face  _somewhere_  before. The man, however, I already knew. He  _was_  familiar. He was  _my_ father.

The sad scene faded, only to be replaced by a horrible one. There was a fire, but the flames were white. The boy from before sat in a closet, hugging his knees as the fire surrounded him and crying.

" _Mommy! Daddy! Help me!_ " The closet door was opened a moment later, and the boy's mother came in and picked him up, trying to sooth him.

" _It's okay, you'll be okay._ " She turned and ran with him, through the burning apartment, avoiding the white flames as best she could. She ran down the stairs, but then a part of the roof came down in front of her. She barely jumped back, but then another large chunk came down behind her. Trapped. She couldn't jump, she was at least five stories up with a child in her arms, and she couldn't go upstairs or down. The roof above her had an opening from the part of it having fallen in front of her. She put her arm in front of her mouth and nose to breathe through the smoke as her child cried against her chest. She looked to the hole in the roof…and then she dropped her hand from her mouth. She saw it coming long before it did, and she hugged her son tightly, still looking at the hole in the roof with the night sky.

" _No! Run!_ " My father called, but she didn't have anywhere to go, and she just stared at the sky. And then a lightning bolt came in, striking her dead on as she hugged her son, and the entire apartment exploded.

The boy slept in his father's arms, a black ring with a silver skull engraved on the front on his right middle finger.

" _I told her I would protect you both…_ " My father said. " _But it always ends this way, doesn't it? Zeus took her soul, burned it up. That way, I couldn't even be with her in her death. He didn't even allow her soul to move on, he just destroyed it, all so I would suffer. But she saved you. Zeus had planned both of you to be destroyed that day, but she'd given you her ring for double the protection, sacrificing her soul to Zeus's wrath but making sure your soul wouldn't be destroyed. It allowed me to get to you, bring you back to life, and send you back into the world, but with no memory of who your parents were for your safety._ "

"So he killed her because you loved her," I said. The boy faded from Hades' arms, and he stood. The world around us was our grey space again. Right now, Hades wore a black shirt, black pants, black shoes, but that was normal. He also wore a cape that hid most of that, and he usually wore that when he was serious.

"Yes."

"Why…how could he? I mean…Jason's his son and he's…"

"Zeus does what he does, and the rest of us rarely question it to his face. He's killed near all of those I've fallen in love with, along with Poseidon, as we are "The Great Three." I can't speak for Jason and his sister Thalia's creation, and I'd prefer not to."

"Why show my mom's death?"

"I hadn't intended to. You found her ring, and it showed you the truth when you put it on."

"How would it end up in Medea's department store of all places?"

"Things wander there randomly, things that are forgotten or lost. I'd lost it after that night, and never really looked for it because…maybe I didn't want to."

"When…when I got my powers, and you contacted me three years ago, nearly four now, did Zeus know who I was?"

"I'm not sure. I allowed you to meet the other gods, and though you never directly talked to him, I'm sure he saw you at one point or another. After the second Titan War, he got upset, as the gods were…embarrassed, I supposed you could say. We won, but it was because of the demigods. We won because the god's children fought their battles for them, smarter than they did. Had we relied on Zeus's plan, we would've all gone down to Tartarus fighting the storm giant Typhoon and Kronos would've won. Nico, your half-brother, had angered me when he requested I do so much for this Percy Jackson, even when he had the nerve to turn down immortality and tell us to pay better attention to our children. Of course, in the end, he was right. The other gods have plenty of children that they don't keep track of, as gods can be in many places at once."

"That reminds me, do you know if Poseidon knows about Audrey?"

"The Great Three don't have children very often, so it's not hard to keep track of them all. I've never spoke to Poseidon about her before, but I'm confident he knows of her existence. Why?"

"Audrey…well, she's concerned her dad doesn't even know about her because she's never met or seen him, in real life, in dreams, in visions, or anywhere."

"Most likely he didn't want what happened to you to happen to her. You finally came to Camp Half-Blood and we could claim you, but then the stirring of the earth caused Zeus to close off all contact with our children."

"Speaking of claiming,  _dad_."

"Yes, yes, I heard you, believe me. I'm sure those in the Pit could hear you. Not exactly helping with the whole "secret of my son being alive" is it? Besides, that outfit is only for formal events, you don't have to wear it twenty four seven if you don't like it that much. There was a time in history when those were the normal fashion, you know. In any case, Hephaestus is using old-school tech to contact your friend Leo, and I'm using your dream of your mother and the ring to contact you now, but I'd best not get into any more trouble with Zeus right now. You need to help assist the seven demigods in coming together, open Zeus's eyes with this plan Hera has, however foolish. I'm not supposed to interfere in my children's lives. You have to walk your own path, and interference doesn't work, the Fates make sure of that. Just keep those demigods on their way during their journey. You may not be mentioned in this Great Prophecy, but that means your fate is not set in stone. You can do things these seven cannot, and it is you and your friend's job to watch over them in the shadows, be their special card that no one knows about and can't prepare for."

"Good thing I've got experience living as a mystery." I looked to the ring on my left hand. "What was her name?" He looked to the distance in thought, maybe saddened from having to remember. Then a small smile, that wasn't dark or sinister, but actually… _warming_ , tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"Zoraya." And then I woke up to be falling.


	18. Breaking, Entering, Dreaming, Screaming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Veon's going to be taking a few of the chapters for a while as we continue. Please review on the chapters with suggestions or tips for the story.

First Person: Zytaveon

"I can't believe we're doing this  _again!_ " Audrey shouted. She and Emily had managed to keep ahold of Festus this time, but we could barely keep our eyes open or hear anything with the wind.

"You did  _not_  have to wake me like that!" I shouted to Zy. She was holding onto Festus with one hand and my arm with the other, as I had been unconscious when the dragon had started falling. "I was waking up on my own!"

"Just needed to be sure!" She said. Apparently, she had found it appropriate to wake me up by kicking me a place no man wants to be kicked, just after I had gained consciousness, so I woke to not only plummeting to my doom, but also a kick from a goddess with super strength to my manhood. I was understandably ticked.

"Jason! Take Piper and fly out of here!" Leo ordered. "Zy! Can you handle the rest?!"

"Yep!"

"What?!" Jason protested.

"We need to lighten the load! I might be able to reboot Festus, but he's carrying too much weight!"

"What about you?!" Piper cried. "If you can't reboot him then-"

"I'll be fine! Just follow me to the ground! Go!" Zy pulled me closer and wrapped my arms around her waist.

"Hold on!" She ordered. "Emily, Audrey! Let go!" The two nodded and did so in sync. Zy let go as well, grabbed Audrey with her left hand and Emily with her right one. "Here we go!" Jason grabbed Piper by the waist and they too jumped off from the dragon. Leo managed to get the dragon back online, but they were still coming in too hot and the ground was too close. He ended up aiming Festus for a lawn of a white mansion within a tall brick perimeter fence. It was some rich guy's private compound, and when Festus approached, spotlights along the fence spotted and fixed on them. The mansion must've had defenses. There were bursts of tracer fire, Festus being cut to shreds, and then there was an explosion as Leo went flying off of Festus as the dragon was torn apart. It happened so fast, I'm not sure what actually occurred, but I did know that Festus had to have been destroyed.

"Leo!" Emily called. "Get us down there! We have to help him!" Zyanya complied, dropping our altitude even faster than gravity should've allowed before suddenly coming to a stop just before we hit the ground, gently placing Emily and Audrey on the ground. The two girls ran up to Leo, Jason and Piper joining them, while Zy put her feet on the ground.

"You can let go now, Veon." I realized I still had my arms around her waist and quickly did so.

"S-Sorry." We walked over to Leo who was panicking about Festus. Festus had dropped the canary cages before he'd come over the fence, because they'd rolled in different directions and landed on their sides, perfectly unharmed. Festus wasn't so lucky. The dragon's limbs were scattered across the ground, his tail hanging on a fence, the main section of his body having plowed a trench twenty feet wide and fifty feet across the mansion's yard before breaking up, the remains charred smoking piles of scrap. Only his neck and head were somewhat intact, resting across a row of frozen rosebushes like a pillow.

"No!" Leo sobbed, hurrying over to the dragon's head and stroking its snout. The dragon's eyes flickered weakly, oil leaking out of his ear. "You can't go. You're the best thing I ever fixed…" Emily kneeled down next to him with a hand on his shoulder. The dragon's gears whirred, as though it was purring, and Emily petted its snout too. "It's not fair…" The dragon creaked and then clicked, and I assumed it was saying something in Morse code. Unfortunately, my language abilities didn't apply to Morse, at least not yet, so I didn't know what it was saying.

"Yeah," Leo said. "I understand. I will. I promise." Then the dragon's eyes went dark. Just like that, the friend we'd made was gone. Leo cried and Emily hugged him, but she didn't say anything.

"What did you promise him?" She whispered. Leo sniffled and opened the control panel, confirming that the control disk was cracked and burnt beyond repair.

"Something my dad told me," Leo said. "Everything can be reused."

"You talked to your dad? When?" Jason asked. Leo didn't answer and simply moved to the dragon's neck hinges until the dead was detached. The thing looked to weigh a hundred pounds, but Leo managed to hold it up in his arms, looking up to the starry night.

"Take him back to the bunker, Dad. Please, until I can reuse him. I've never asked you for anything." The wind picked up, and the dragon's head floated out of Leo's arms like it weight nothing, flying into the sky and disappearing.

"He  _answered_  you?" Piper asked in amazement.

"I had a dream. I'll explain later." That's right. Dad said Hephaestus was using some old machine to contact Leo despite Zeus's order not to. Leo looked like he wouldn't be able to say more with Festus gone in a flash, just like that, so I let the subject with his father be, moving the conversation along for him.

"Where are we?" I asked. "What city."

"Omaha, Nebraska, I think," Audrey said. "At least that's what the billboard I saw on the way in said. No idea about the mansion though. I know we came in a bit behind and everything happened so fast, but… I swear I saw lasers though."

"Yeah," Zy said. She picked up a piece of dragon wreckage and threw it towards the top of the fence. Immediately, a turret popped up from the brick wall and a beam of pure heat incinerated the bronze plating to ashes. Jason whistled.

"Some defense system. How are we even alive?"

"Festus must have taken the attention away from us as we came in," I said.

"The lasers sliced him to bits as he came in so they didn't focus on you," Leo confirmed. "I led him into a death trap."

"You couldn't have known what would happen," Piper said.

"He saved our lives," Emily agreed. "Again. And when we get back, we'll help you rebuild him good as new."

"What now?" Jason asked. "The main gates are locked, and I'm guessing we can't fly out of here without getting shot down." Leo looked to the walkway at the big white mansion.

"Since we can't go out, we'll just have to go in," He said. We walked forward, but apparently the lasers weren't the only defense. Zy and Leo had to disarm a motion-activated trapdoor on the sidewalk, more lasers on the steps, the nerve gas dispenser on the porch railing, the pressure-sensitive poison spikes in the welcome mat, and of course, an exploding doorbell, because why not? Leo and Zy were able to sniff out the traps and disarm them, working in sync without a word shared between them. Why was there something that made me jealous about that?

"You're amazing, man," Jason said.

"Yeah, amazing," Leo said scowling at the front door lock. "Can't fix a dragon right, but I'm amazing."

"Hey, that wasn't your-"

"The front door's unlocked."

"All those traps and the  _door's_  unlocked?" Audrey asked in disbelief. Leo turned the knob and the door opened easily. He stepped inside without hesitation.

"Give Leo some time, will you Jason?" Zy asked before walking in. "He needs some time to get over what happened to Festus. Don't take it personally."

"I know," "He said nodding. "I will." He paused in thought. "Piper, I know I was a bit dazed back in Chicago, but that stuff about your dad - if he's in trouble. I wanna help. I don't care if it's a trap or not." Her eyes showed clearly the topic was dodgy, and she really didn't want to talk about it. There was something in her that was shattered, I knew that face well enough a son of Hades.

"Jason, you don't know what you're saying. Please, don't make me feel worse. Come on, we should try and stick together." She ducked inside and Emily followed after with a worried look.

"Together, yeah, we're doing great with that," Jason muttered. The place was dark, but I allowed my senses to allow me to feel around in the shadows. The entry hall was enormous, even bigger than Boreas's penthouse, but the only illumination came from the lights outside in the yard. The others would be blind to any ambush. There were windows rising about ten feet tall, and spaced in between them along the walls were life-sized metal statues. But I got that sense again, one that felt like they weren't alive…but deep down inside…they were like the ice statues at Boreas's place, dead, but not dead. Gods, where the heck were we? There were sofas arranged in a U in the middle of the room, with a central coffee table and one large chair at the far end. A massive chandelier glinted overhead, and along the back wall stood a row of closed doors.

"Where's the light switch?" Jason asked, his voice echoing with alarming volume.

"Don't see one," Leo said.

"This is a big room," I said. "I can't sense anything very far out, even in the shadows like this. No light switches within my range. It's weird, like everything is vibrating my senses so I can't see anything."

"Leo?" Audrey asked. Leo held out his hand, but nothing happened.

"It's not working," Leo announced.

"You're fire is out?" Piper asked. "Why?"

"Well if I knew that-"

"Okay, okay," Emily said. "What do we do? Explore?"

"With all those traps outside?" Audrey asked. "Not to mention the fact that I don't really want to break into some rich guy's house in the middle of the night and then go exploring without permission. The only reason we're in here is because we can't get out. Best not try and make this guy angry with us so we can never leave. We really don't need that right now."

"Besides, this place is huge," I said. "I really don't wanna split up with such a large place in the dark risking some guy with a shotgun. We're demigods, but only Emily and Zy can take a bullet."

"Right, no splitting up," Jason said. "We don't need a repeat of Detroit."

"Oh, thanks for reminding me of the Cyclopes," Piper muttered, her voice quivering. "I needed that."

"It's a few hours till dawn," Zy said. "Too cold for us to wait outside. I can bring the cages in and we'll make a camp in this room. Wait for daylight and we can decide what to do. Hopefully the owner will hear us out when we explain we accidentally got trapped in their mansion when our giant mechanical dragon crashed into their lawn. Of course, who wouldn't trust a bunch of teens armed with swords, daggers, guns, powers and two cages with a satyr and some storm spirits? Hopefully we'll be able to handle them with charm speak. I'm gonna get the cages." No one protested or offered a better idea, so she brought the cages in and they settled in. Leo didn't find any poison pillows or electric whoopee cushions, so it was safe to use the sofas.

Leo wasn't in the mood for tacos, and we weren't exactly gonna be able to make a fire in here (Leo's fire not working and my limited range of sensing the shadows noted in the back of my mind) so we settled for cold rations. I studied the statues on the back of the wall, some Greek gods or heroes. That shook me on the inside. If I really was sensing life within them…ugh, the thought makes me shudder, child of Hades or not. I was kinda glad I had enough morals to be grossed out by the thought of someone permanently being frozen and alive as a statue.

The venti were swirling around, still very ticked at us, mostly Jason for being a son of Zeus, but Zy walked over and kicked their cage with a loud clang and they quieted down, though I swear they were still glaring. As for Coach Hedge, well, that satyr was still frozen mid-shout, his cudgel raised in attack. Leo was fiddling with the lock on his cage, but seemed to be having trouble. I decided to keep my distance, fearing the guy was gonna suddenly unfreeze any moment and clobber me.

Piper had fallen asleep on a sofa already, or was trying to avoid a conversation about her dad. Jason and Leo made amends about what they said in Chicago, Emily and Audrey talked each other to sleep on another sofa, and Zy and I were lying silently on the floor. We had volunteered to sleep on the floor, as I oddly found the floor pretty comfortable. Jason eventually fell asleep on his sofa, while Leo either accomplished in opening Hedge's cage or gave up as his fiddling eventually stopped.

I had gotten rest back in the sky on Festus before we'd fallen, so I couldn't sleep, naturally. I found myself twisting my mom's ring with my thumb, just like I did with the one dad gave me. To be honest, I don't really remember where I got the ring. My earliest memories were of just living in an orphanage as a kid since I could remember. I guess those memories had been planted by my father for my safety, but it still made me wonder what my life was like before. I knew I had at one point lived in an apartment with my mother, but that wasn't a lot to go by. I tried to recall every detail of my dream, the place we'd lived, my mother's face as she smiled, talked, showed concern or love towards me and Hades. She wasn't angry that Zeus had torn the one she loved away from her, and she didn't try to run when she knew he was going to kill her. She just looked to the fact that Hades had tried, he'd cared, and that was enough for her. She'd just chosen to save me.

"Zoraya…" The name felt weird on my tongue, but at the same time, warm. I instantly wanted to say "mommy" when I heard the name, I wanted to remember the time I'd once had with my mother back when I was little, all the time that I'd lost, but it wasn't there. Even the memory the ring had showed me felt like nothing but a dream, not real. Maybe my father had the right to take my memories away to protect me as a child, but was it too much to ask to get them back now that I was grown?

"Veon?" Zy rolled over to face me. "What's wrong?"

"Got sleep on the way here. Not sleepy now."

"Who's Zoraya?" I paused. Right, I'd said that aloud.

"My mom. Who I never really met."

"And the ring?"

"It was hers." Zy had been there back at the department store. Even under Medea's influence, the sight of my mother's ring had made me pause for thought. Without even realizing it, I'd grabbed the ring in my left hand and gripped it tightly, not letting it go even as I continued to look around. She asked what the ring was, and I'd asked what ring, as I didn't know I'd grabbed it with my subconscious while my real self had been charmed into…ugh… _shopping_.

"I had a dream back on Festus," I admitted. "The ring showed me my mom. I didn't know about her, not much more than a picture Hades had shown me, but it showed that I'd lived with her for a short time, and wasn't in an orphanage for the first, maybe eight, years of my life."

"Zeus killed her, didn't he?" I wasn't really surprised that she knew, and it didn't make me flinch when she said it.

"Yeah. Though destroy is a better word. He tried to destroy me too, but she'd given me her ring, the one Hades had given her to protect her, and gave her life to ensure mine. Along with the ring Hades had given  _me_  for protection, my soul had survived, even if my body had died. Mom had died, body and soul, just so that Hades couldn't even be with her in the afterlife. How could someone do that?"

"A god like Zeus, who has power and a long life that's frozen over his heart. Oddly enough, a god of the heavens has a darker heart than a god of hell." She put her hand on my left one that was fiddling with my mom's ring. "It's the gods' ways. It's not nice, not kind, fair or reasonable, but they accept it because Zeus is king. Sure, he saved a good deal of the original gods from Kronos after he ate them and whatnot, but kings and leaders change for a reason. He's become a bit…condescending."

"Stuck up and evil is more like it." She smiled.

"I wouldn't say that to his face if I were you. I, however, can't wait for the day to do so. Still, he has the weight of ruling on his shoulders, so try and see it from his perspective. After all these years, a good deal of the gods have grudges against him, he has to be a prideful leader and never admit weakness, or else his enemies and even his allies shall use it against him. A leader keeps the gods in check, keeps the natural order in place. Without him, wars would break out over a new leader, the world might change completely. Things are unfair, but change is a dangerous thing, especially for something as important as the gods. Besides, ask Aphrodite. Love isn't love unless it faces challenges. Your mother and father loved each other, loved you, and love can't be broken so easily. If anything, love is easier to destroy when it is visible. It's hard to explain, but with your mother gone, your father and you can never fight or get angry at her, never lose the love you had for her. It's set in stone for eternity, unable to be affected now that she's gone. I know it sounds a bit, you know, dark…but-"

"I understand. I, of all people, should, right?" She smiled again.

"Right. Keep that in mind, if you ever find someone to love. Death may not be the end for you, but even if a soul is lost, whether it has moved on or is destroyed, know that if you hold them in your heart, your bond will last long after the stars have blinked out, and their face has been forgotten." I enjoyed a quiet moment of lying there in front of her, with her hand on mine, but then she seemed to realize how close she was and pulled her hand away, her smile forced down. "Um, you should get some sleep. You're gonna need it for tomorrow." She touched my forehead and I instantly felt drowsy. I wanted to protest, but then I forgot why. Sleep sounded really nice, and there was nothing stopping me, was there? I lay down on the comfortable floor and closed my eyes, but my dreams were no better than last time. They were even worse.

I was in the place, the pit. Tartarus. It was realer than it had ever been. A dream wasn't supposed to be this real. The ground stung my skin as I rose to my feet, my jacket gone and my arms exposed to the sharp ground. I struggled to breathe, and when I did, my lungs burned with poison. My limbs were weak and fatigued, and I shook from hunger and thirst. My weapons were still with me, but I was too weak to use any of my powers, and who knew if I'd be able to swing my sword properly? I stood next to a river of lava, the world around me terrifying.

I walked to the river, without really knowing why, and before I could stop myself, I plunged my hands in, cupping some of the lava before pulling it up and drinking it. The lava burned my hands, mouth, throat, so much so that it was actually cool,  _freezing_. Then, I felt my limbs gaining energy again, my lungs becoming numb to the poison that stung them, and I felt enough strength that I could stand straight and walk on. I followed the river, again, not sure why, but I did, heading down stream. My legs burned as I walked for a seemingly endless time, the world darkening further and further the farther I got. There were monsters down here, but I swung my sword without thinking, killed them, and then moved on. I had to make it, but where was I going? My body didn't seem to really care, and moved without my consent, seeming to know where to go.

I drank the lava every now and then to slightly rejuvenate myself, but continued on. The challenges became greater with time, but my body was numb, and worked to fight on its own. Even when my body screamed for rest, I continued to fight, to walk on. Then, I walked to a place that was too dark to see much in front of me, and I didn't care. I stopped, to look over a canyon, and then the temperature decreased significantly.

" _Who dares come here?!_ " A distorted woman's voice asked. A dark shadow rose from the canyon, and my body began to freeze up, pain shooting through every inch of my body. What I saw, I'm not sure, but it didn't matter, as my body exploded from the inside out, pain, causing me to lose all feeling as everything went black.

I woke to shouting. At first, I thought it was mine after my dream, but then I realized it wasn't when I opened my eyes to find it was morning, the full sunlight now bathing the room. There was crashing, as a tea set was smashed and I sat up to rub my eyes and see what the heck was happening. There was a shriek from Emily as she got whacked by a screaming satyr, who'd just gone on a rampage attacking the sofas and was yelling "Die!"

"Coach is awake," Leo said, which was kind of unnecessary.

"Please, sir, calm down!" Emily said, rubbing her head where the coach had struck her, even though he was just a few inches shorter than her. He paused, breathing hard, his eyes wild like he was about to attack, but he seemed to gain control of himself with Emily standing next to him and commanding him to stand down. The satyr was wearing an orange polo shirt and a coach's whistle, but his horns were clearly visible above his curly hair, and his hindquarters were clearly that of a goat.

"And you are?" He asked Emily.

"Gonna have a headache," Emily muttered. I guess she was immune to damage, but it wasn't like she couldn't feel the pain of being whacked by a goat-man with a club.

"Coach!" Jason called. Coach Hedge turned to him.

"You're the new kid, Jason," He realized. He turned to Leo and Piper, the two having just woken up along with Audrey. Piper's hair looked liked it had become a nest for a friendly hamster, but Audrey had her hair in a pony, so she only suffered from a few loose strands.

"Why are we all screaming and breaking stuff?" Audrey asked, still a bit drowsy.

"Valdez, McLean, what's going on?" The coach demanded. "We were at the Grand Canyon, and the anemoi thuellai were attacking and-" He caught sight of the storm spirit cage and his eyes went back to DEFCON 1. "Die!"

"Whoa, Coach!" Leo stepped in his path, which was pretty brave even though Hedge was six inches shorter. "It's okay. They're locked up. We just sprang you from the other cage."

"Cage? Cage?! What's going on? Just because I'm a satyr doesn't mean I can't have you doing plank push-ups, Valdez!"

"How'd you get him unfrozen?" I asked.

"And who are you supposed to be?"

"Yo, son of Hades. Nice to meet you, sir. I ask that you please refrain from whacking my friends with your club please."

"It's okay," Emily said. "No harm done."

"Would someone please start explaining what's happening?" Audrey asked.

"We just got awakened by a screaming satyr," Zy said, rubbing her eyes. I guess even she got some sleep last night. "End of story."

"Don't know about you, but I'm not a morning person. Goodnight." She lay back down on the sofa and closed her eyes.

"Neither am I, try to be quieter if you're gonna talk." She lay back down on the floor, pulled a blanket she'd mysteriously gotten over her, and instantly passed out. That was a little more human than godly, but whatever. I guess they switched every now and then. Jason cleared his throat.

"Uh, Coach - Gleeson - um, whatever you want us to call you, you saved us at the Grand Canyon. You were totally brave."

"Of course I was!" The satyr said proudly.

"The extraction team came and took us to Camp Half-Blood. We thought we'd lost you, but then we got word of the storm spirits that had taken you back to their - um, operator, Medea."

"That witch! Wait - that's impossible. She's mortal; she's dead."

"Yeah, well, somehow she got not dead anymore," Leo said. Hedge nodded, his eyes narrowing.

"So, you were sent on a dangerous quest to rescue me! Excellent!"

"Um," Piper got to her feet, holding her hands out so he wouldn't attack her. "Actually Glee - can I still call you Coach Hedge? Gleeson seems  _wrong_. We're on a quest for something else. We kind of found you by accident."

"Oh." His spirits seemed to deflate, but only for a second when his eyes lit up again. "But there are no accidents! Not on quests! This was  _meant_  to happen! So, this is the witch's lair, eh? Why is everything gold?" I looked around and realized he was right, everything in this place was made of gold, the statues, the tea set Hedge had smashed, and a chair that was definitely a throne. Even the curtains that had mysteriously opened at daybreak appeared to be woven out of golden fibers.

"Nice, no wonder they got so much security," Leo commented.

"This isn't Medea's place, uh, Coach," Emily said. "It's some rich person's mansion in Omaha. We got away from Medea and crash landed here."

"It's destiny, cupcakes!" Hedge insisted. "I'm meant to protect you all."  _Actually, it's our job to protect the three of them_ , I thought to myself. "What's the quest?" Before any of us could explain, or just shove Coach Hedge back into his cage, a door opened at the far end of the room. A pudgy man in a white bathrobe stepped out with a golden toothbrush in his mouth. He had a white beard and one of those long, old-fashion sleeping caps pressed down over his white hair. He froze when he saw us, and the toothbrush fell out of his hand.

"Uh-oh…" I muttered. He glanced into the room behind him.

"Son?" He called. "Lit, come down here, please. There are strange people in our throne room." Coach Hedge did the most logical thing possible (obviously) and raised his club.

"Die!"


	19. Midas

First Peron: Zytaveon

It took all five of us to restrain Coach Hedge, while Audrey grunted, unhappy that she was forced to wake up. A younger man charged into the room, Lit, the old guy's son, dressed in pajama pants with a sleeveless T-shirt that said  **Cornhuskers** , and he held a sword that looked like it could husk a lot of things besides corn. His ripped arms were covered in scars, and his face, framed by curly dark hair, would've been handsome if it wasn't also sliced up.

He immediately zeroed in on Jason and I, who seemed to be the biggest threats in the room, stalking towards us with his sword overhead. But the moment he walked past Zy, her hand shot out from under her blanket (still don't know where that came from, by the way) and grabbed his ankle hard enough to cause him to trip and face plant.

"I was sleeping, bastard," She said, her voice returning to Zyanya's as opposed to the tired voice of Lucy from before. He turned and tried to stab her with his sword, but she caught it and ripped it from his grasp.

"Don't worry! I'll get him!" Hedge shouted.

"Coach," Jason pleaded. "They may be friendly. Besides, this is their house."

"Thank you," The old man in the bathrobe said. "Now, who are you and why are you here?"

"Let's all put the weapons down," Piper said. "Coach, you first."

"Just one thwack?" He protested.

"No," Piper and Emily said in unison.

"What about a compromise? I'll kill them first, and if it turns out they were friendly, I'll apologize."

"No!" The two women said again. With the two of them, especially Emily, getting forceful with their words, that finally got Hedge to stand down. Zyanya stood and stabbed Lit's sword into the floor just inches from his face before leaning on it casually.

"So, what's happening? I was actually enjoying that nap, in case it wasn't obvious. I haven't slept in eons, dears." I wondered if that was just her using a figure of speech, or if she literally hadn't slept in eons as a goddess. "Ah yes, my apologies, sir," She said to Lit. "I just prefer not being woken up to find my friends have been run through."

"I try not to get run through before lunchtime," Leo said. The old man in the bathrobe sighed, kicking the tea set Hedge had broken.

"Well, since you're here, please, sit down," He said.

"Your Majesty-" Lit began to protest.

"No, no, its fine, Lit. New land, new customs. They may sit in my presence. After all, they've seen me in my night clothes. No sense observing formalities."

"I am no such commoner to royalty," Zy said, taking on a formal tone and accent. "Formalities aren't required anyway. I'm not one to make others bow in my presence or speak formally. It just gets annoying after some time. So, with all due respect, Mr. Lit, back off or I shall tear you limb from limb, okay?" She said that with a smile, and that sadistic side of me smiled too. The old guy smiled, though it looked a little forced.

"Well, in that case, welcome to my humble home. I am King Midas."

"Midas? That's impossible; he died," Coach Hedge said. The rest of us had taken positions on the sofas while the king reclined in his throne, a tricky thing to do in a bathrobe and I hoped he had some golden boxers under there if he accidentally uncrossed his legs. Lit stood behind the throne, his hand on his sword and glaring at Zy who merely smirked back at his annoyance. I gave him a glare of challenge after a while and he diverted his eyes to the others.

"What our satyr friend means, Your Majesty, is that you're the second mortal we've met who should be - sorry - dead," Piper explained. "King Midas lived thousands of years ago."

"Interesting." The king gazed out the windows at the brilliant blue skies and the winter sunlight. In the distance, downtown Oklahoma looked like a cluster of children's blocks, way too clean and small for a regular city. "You know, I think I  _was_  a bit dead for a while. It's strange; seems like a dream, doesn't it Lit?"

"A very long dream, Your Majesty."

"And yet, now we're here. I'm enjoying myself very much. I, personally, like living much better."

"But how?" Piper asked. "You didn't happen to have a…patron, did you?" Midas hesitated, but there was a sly twinkle in his eye that worried me.

"Does it matter, my dear?"

"We could kill them again," Hedge suggested.

"No, Coach," Emily said, strategically placed next to him to keep him tame. "Why don't you, Audrey and I go outside and stand guard?" I saw what she was doing. Making sure she could split us up in case the rest of us were caught in a trap. Smart Emily.

"Are you sure that's safe?" Leo asked. "They've got some serious security."

"Oh, yes," The king said. "Sorry about that, but its lovely stuff, isn't it? Amazing what gold can still buy these days. Such excellent toys you have in this country." He fished a remote control out of his pocket and pressed a few buttons - a pass code, I assumed. "There, safe to go out now." Emily flashed a sweet smile, her Aphrodite blessing only now just beginning to slightly dim so she was still beautiful.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. Now, come on, Mr. Gleeson." Coach Hedge grunted.

"Fine, but if you need me…" He winked at Jason meaningfully, pointed at himself, pointed two fingers at their hosts, and sliced his finger across his throat.  _Very_  subtle sign language.

"Yeah, thanks," Jason said and they retreated. Piper put on another diplomatic smile.

"So…you don't know how you got here?"

"Oh, well, yes, sort of," The king said. He frowned to Lit. "Why did we pick Omaha again? I know it wasn't for the weather."

"The oracle."

"Yes! I was told there was an oracle in Omaha. Apparently, I was mistaken, but this is a rather nice house, isn't it? Lit - short for Lityerses, by the way - terrible name, but his mother insisted - Lit has plenty of wide-open space to practice his swordplay. He has quite a reputation for that, and they called him the Reaper of Men back in the old days."

"Oh, how nice," Piper said, trying to sound enthusiastic. Lit's smile became more of a cruel sneer, and I was once hundred percent sure I didn't like the guy.

"So, all this gold-" Jason began.

"Are you here for gold, my boy?" The king asked, his eyes lighting up. "Please, take a brochure!" I looked to find the brochures on the coffee table, titled  _GOLD: Invest for Eternity_.

"You sell gold?" I asked.

"No, no, boy, I  _make_  it. In uncertain times like these, gold is the wisest investment, don't you think? Governments fall, the dead rise, giants attack Olympus, but gold retains its value!" Leo frowned.

"I've seen those commercials."

"Oh, don't be fooled by cheap imitators! I assure you, I can beat any price for a serious investor. I can make a wide assortment of gold items at a moment's notice."

"But…" Piper shook her head in confusion. "Your Majesty, didn't you give up the golden touch?"

"Gave it up?" The king asked, astonished. I wasn't really a guy who liked history, and I only ever researched the gods. I'd heard of King Midas at one point in my life or another, and I  _think_  there was something about him giving up golden touch, but all I really remember was that water reversed the effect of the gold.

"Yes, you got it from some god-"

"Dionysus. I'd rescued one of his satyrs and in return he granted me one wish, and I chose the golden touch."

"But you accidentally turned your own daughter to gold and you realized how greedy you'd been so you repented."

"Repented?!" He looked to Lit. "You see, son? You're away for a few thousand years and the story gets all twisted around. My dear, did those stories ever  _say_  I'd lost my magic touch?"

"Well, I guess not. They just said you learned how to reverse it with running water and you brought your daughter back to life."

"That's true. Sometimes I still have to reverse my touch. There's still no running water in the house because I don't want accidents-" He referred to the statues and my fears had been confirmed. They  _were_  sort of alive. At least alive enough that they could be revived with running water should Midas ever chose to do so (not that I expect him to). The tingle that I'd been getting from the whole room must've been the fact that it was all gold. I mean, Hades/Pluto was a god of riches in the earth, right? Maybe the gold was considered in that category even if it was, well,  _made_ , in a way. In interesting thought. Maybe if I pulled with this tingle I'd been getting, I'd be able to manipulate the gold.

"We chose to live next to a river just in case," Midas continued. "Occasionally, I forget and pat Lit on the back-" Lit retreated a few steps.

"I hate that."

"I said I was sorry, son. At any rate, gold is wonderful. Why would I give it up?"

"Well, isn't that the lesson of the story?" I asked. "You learned that gold wasn't worth your family or whatnot and that having everything you touch turn to gold could be a curse?" Midas laughed.

"Young man, may I see your backpack for a moment? Toss it here." I questioned letting him have it, but I emptied it out (there only being some ambrosia, nectar and an extra change of clothes inside since Zy had been the one to pack it) and tossed it to Midas. As soon as he caught it, the pack turned to gold like frost spreading across the fabric. It still looked flexible and soft, but it was defiantly gold. Gold wasn't bad, and I'm pretty sure people would kill to have a bag made of gold like that, but I kinda liked it when it was black. The king tossed it back.

"As you can see, I can still turn everything to gold." It wasn't as though I doubted his abilities; I was just saying that's why the story was told, to be some kind of lesson about greed. "The pack is magic now as well. Go ahead, put your little storm spirits in there."

"Seriously?" Leo asked, taking the back and holding it up to the cage. As soon as he unzipped the backpack, the winds stirred and howled in protest. The cage bars shuddered, and the door of the prison flew opened, the winds vacuumed straight into the pack Leo zipped it shut and grinned. "Gotta admit. That's cool."

"You see?" Midas asked. "My golden touch a  _curse?_  Please. I didn't learn any lesson, and life isn't a story. Honestly, my daughter Zoe was much more pleasant as a gold statue."

"She talked a lot," Lit offered.

"Don't most girls do that?" I asked.

"Yeah, you too, bud," Zy muttered.

"Exactly!" Midas said. "And so I turned her back to gold." Midas pointed to a golden statue at the corner of the room. It was a statue of a girl with a shocked expression, as if she were thinking,  _Dad!_

"That's horrible!" Piper said.

"Nonsense! She doesn't mind. Besides, if I'd learned my lesson, would I have gotten these?" He pulled off his over sized sleeping cap and I saw he had long, fuzzy, gray ears sticking up from his white hair, like Bugs Bunny's, but they weren't rabbit ears, they were donkey ears.

"Oh wow," Leo said. "Really didn't need to see that."

"Terrible isn't it? A few years after the golden touch incident, I judged a music contest between Apollo and Pan, and I declared Pan the winner."

"Oh boy," I said. One thing you should know if you ever meet Apollo is that he does  _not_  take losing a  _music_ contest lightly. He's practically a god of music, poetry and such, and that should allow him to win any contest within those categories, unless the judge is an idiot.

"Oh yes, boy, I see you've met him. Apollo, sore loser, said I must have the ears of an ass, and voila. This was my reward for being truthful. I tried to keep them a secret. Only my barber knew, but he couldn't help blabbing." He pointed out another golden statue - a bald man in a toga holding a pair of shears. "That's him. Won't be telling anyone's secrets again." The king smiled, and he suddenly didn't seem like such a harmless old man in a bathrobe. His eyes had a merry glow to them, the look of a madman who  _knew_  he was a madman and enjoyed it. I was all for a guy who liked the darkness, but there was a line between darkness and madness that I drew. At the moment, he was on the edge of crossing that line.

"Yes, gold has many uses. I think that  _must_  be why I was brought back, eh Lit? To bankroll our patron." Lit nodded.

"That and my good sword arm."

"So you do have a patron," Jason said. "You work for the giants." King Midas waved his hand dismissively.

"Well, I don't care for giants myself, of course. But even supernatural armies need to get paid. I do owe my patron a great debt. I tried to explain that to the last group that came through, but they were very unfriendly, and wouldn't cooperate at all."

"The last group?" Jason asked, his hand slipping to the coin in his pocket.

"Hunters," Lit snarled. "Blasted girls from Artemis."

"When?" Jason asked, freezing. Hadn't he said his sister was a Hunter of Artemis? "What happened?" Lit shrugged.

"A few days ago, maybe. I didn't get to kill them, unfortunately. They were looking for some evil wolves or something. Said they were following a trail heading west. Missing demigod. I don't recall." That had to have been Percy Jackson that they were looking for, as Annabeth had mentioned the Hunters were looking for him. The wolves were some of the creatures that Jason had mention around Hera's cage, calling them her keepers. That had to be connected.

"Very unpleasant young ladies, those Hunters," Midas said, scratching his donkey ears. "They absolutely refused to be turned to gold. Much of the security system outside I installed to keep that sort of thing from happening again, you know. I don't have time for those who aren't serious investors." Jason glanced at us, and we all got the picture.

"Well," Piper said, managing a smile. "It's been great. Welcome back to life. Thanks for the golden bag."

"Oh, but you can't leave! I know you're not serious investors, but that's all right! I have to rebuild my collection." Lit smiled cruelly, and the king rose, Piper and Leo moving away from him. "Don't worry, you don't  _have_  to be turned to gold. I give all my guests a choice - join my collection, or die by the hands of Lityerses. Really, it's good either way." Piper tried to use her charm speak.

"Please, Your Majesty, you can't-" Quicker than any old man should've been able to move, Midas lashed out and grabbed her wrist.

"No!" Jason shouted, but a frost of gold spread over Piper and in a heartbeat, she was a glittering statue. Leo tried to summon fire, but he'd forgotten his power wasn't working. Midas touched his hand, and Leo transformed into solid metal. Midas smiled apologetically.

"Gold trumps fire, I'm afraid." He waved around the room to the golden curtains and furniture. "In this room, my power dampens all others: fire, even charm speak." He reached for my arm, and I couldn't pull back in time…only for his wrist to be grabbed by Zyanya. She gripped it tightly, the gold slowly forming on her fist, but she grunted and a white glow appeared at the edges of the gold and halted it.

"Don't. You. Dare. Touch. Him." Her voice was stern, serious and threatening, but as an expert of her voice, I could tell she was also strained. Goddess or not, she was limited by her human body.

"Audrey! Emily! Hedge! Little help!" I shouted. Audrey came running in, her water bottle opened, but as she threw her arm out, her water didn't move. Not even her water power was working. I felt the tingle in the gold from the room, and I had only moments to test my theory of being able to control precious gems and metals from my father. I pulled against the tug I got from the gold, but it was like trying to pull a boulder. I wasn't trained with moving precious metals or gems, and there was so much gold in here it was making my head spin trying to control it. Though maybe it was possible in the future, I couldn't do it now, not here, not without training. I continued to concentrate, just on moving a small amount of the room, but I was banging my head against a brick wall and nothing would obey.

"I chose combat!" Jason blurted. "You said I could chose to fight Lit instead." Midas looked mildly disappointed, but he shrugged.

"I said you could  _die_  fighting Lit. But of course, if you wish." Zy released his hand and took a step back, still shooting a warning look, but I could tell she was hiding how drained she was from resisting Midas's golden power. All of us took a step back, and lit raised his sword.

"I'm going to enjoy this," Lit said. "I am the Reaper of Men!"

"Come on, Cornhusker." Jason summoned his own golden weapon, this time getting a javelin.

"Oh, gold weapon, very nice!" Midas said. Lit charged first, but I could see the gears working in Jason's head as he analyzed Lit's offensive fighting pattern. Jason countered, sidestepped, and blocked. Lit seemed surprised to find him alive.

"What is that style?" Lit growled. "You don't fight like a Greek."

"Legion training," Jason said, though he looked as though he didn't understand how he knew that. "It's Roman." That explains it.

"Roman?" Lit asked, striking again, but Jason deflected his blade. "What is  _Roman?_ "

"News flash," I said. "While you were dead, Rome defeated Greece. Created one of the greatest empires of all time. Or at least, that's what the internet says, and you can  _always_  trust the internet."

"Impossible. Never heard of them." Jason spun on one heel, smacked Lit in the chest with the butt of his javelin, and send him toppling into Midas's throne.

"Oh dear," Midas said. "Lit?"

"I'm fine," He growled.

"You'd best help him," Zyanya said.

"Dad, no!" But it was too late as Midas put his hand on his son's shoulder and suddenly a very angry-looking gold statue was sitting on Midas's throne.

"Curses!" Midas wailed. "That was a very naughty trick, mortal. I'll get you for that." He patted Lit's shoulder. "Don't worry, son. I'll get you down to the river right after I collect these prizes."

"Mortal?" Zy asked smiling. "Glad to know this disguise really does work. I was getting worried there for a moment. Shall we?" She held her hands out and tensed as the air pressure dropped so rapidly that my ears popped. The vibrations I was getting from the room began to increase, and I realized that was actually the whole room vibrating. "Jason, I believe there is another good use for gold you can utilize, no?" Jason looked to Piper, his face grew determined, and then thunder began to rumble, the sky outside turning black. "It is an  _excellent_  conductor of electricity."

Jason raised his javelin, and the ceiling exploded. A lightning bolt ripped through the roof like it was an eggshell, connected with the tip of Jason's spear, and when it did Zy stomped her foot and the electricity snapped, flashing to send out more arcs of energy to blast all around the room. The sofas were blasted to shreds, chunks of ceiling plaster came down, and the chandelier groaned and snapped off its chain. Midas screamed as it pinned him to the floor, the glass immediately turned to gold. Zy raised her hand and the clouds circled around before rain began to pour into the room.

"Audrey, flood!" Audrey raised her arms, the gold now disturbed thanks to Zy enhancing the lightning bolt, and so Audrey's power was restored, the rain beginning to swirl around in a hurricane like fashion. Everything in the room was soaked, freezing rain drenching everything and Midas cursing in Ancient Greek, thoroughly pinned under his chandelier. As the roam was drenched, the gold chandelier began to turn back into glass, Piper and Leo were slowly reversing as well, along with all the other statues in the room.

"Time to go!" I shouted. I had a feeling that when the rest of those statues woke, they'd be  _very_  unhappy. Finally, Coach Hedge and Emily came running in, Hedge with his club ready. His mouth was covered with dirt, snow and grass.

"What'd I miss?!" He asked.

"Where the heck were you?!" Jason demanded, though he seemed to be drained from summoning his lightning bolt. Audrey dropped the hurricane, the water dropping to the floor and the rain falling like normal, as she too was drained. Coach Hedge belched.

"Getting a snack, sorry," He said. "Who needs killing?"

"No one now!" I shouted. "Zy, get Leo and Piper! You two, get Audrey out!" Emily moved to help Audrey, and Zy wrapped an arm around Leo and Piper's waists before hurrying out. I grabbed our bags, including our new golden storm spirit bag, and my supplies while Jason threw a rug over the golden statue of Lit on the throne, hoping that would slow his transformation by cutting off the rain - as Audrey had been careful not to get him wet before - at least before Midas's victims reverted.

"Let's get out of here!" Jason ordered. "I think these guys will want some quality time with Midas."


	20. Piper's Secret and Lycaon

First Person: Zytaveon

"He turned me to gold, didn't he?" Piper asked. We were camped out in a cave, a fire blazing and turning the air sharp with smoke, the wind howling outside and the snow blowing sideways. It was hard to tell whether it was day or night, the storm making it too dark to tell. "Leo?" Piper asked. She and Leo were wrapped in blankets.

"Present and un-gold-ified," Leo said. "I got the precious metal treatment too. We both got soaked by Audrey to revert us, but she dried us off before we got hypothermia."

"How did you beat Midas?" Jason explained the story.

"Kid's being modest," Coach said. "You should've seen him! Hi-yah! Slice! Boom with the lightning!"

"Coach, you didn't even see it," I said. "You were outside eating the lawn."

"I tried to get him inside, but he needed to finish eating," Emily said, but the satyr was just getting started.

"Then Audrey and I came in and we dominated that room. Afterward, I told 'em "Kids, I'm proud of you! Now if we could just work on your upper body strength-"

"Coach?" Zy asked. "Shut up, please."

"Sure." The Coach sat down at the fire and started chewing his cudgel. Leo and Zy stoked the fire, trying to keep us all warm.

"Where are we?" Piper asked.

"Pikes Peak," Zy said. "Colorado."

"Close to home," Audrey muttered.

"But that's what? Five hundred miles from Oklahoma?" Piper asked.

"Something like that," Jason agreed. "I harnessed the storm spirits to bring us this far. They didn't like it, went a little faster than I wanted and if it weren't for Zy would've crashed us into the mountainside before we got them back in their bag. Not eager to try that again."

"Why are we here?"

"That's what  _I_  asked him," Leo said.

"The glittery wind trail we saw yesterday?" Jason explained. "It was still in the sky, though it had faded a lot. I followed it until I couldn't see it anymore. Then, honestly, I'm not sure. I just felt like this was the right place to stop."

"Course it is," Hedge said.

"Aeolus's floating palace should be anchored above us, right at the peak," Zy elaborated. "This is one of his favorite places to dock. Not to mention that the Hunters were also heading west, so two birds, one stone. The storm's pretty bad though, and I doubt I could get you all up the mountain right now. I know it's already the evening before the solstice, but we don't have much choice but to wait out the storm here."

"We have to keep you warm," Jason said. "Uh, you mind if I…?"

"I suppose," Piper said as nonchalant as she could. He put his arms around her and held her as they scooted closer to the fire. Coach Hedge chewed on his club, spitting splinters into the fire, Audrey was getting rest after her stunt back at the mansion with a blanket that Zy had magic-ed up, and Emily was eating some nachos Leo had magic-ed up with his tool belt. Zy was poking the fire with a fire poker, while Leo was frying burger patties on an iron skillet. I was wrapped in my own black blanket that Zy had given me, staring at my mother's ring while I twisted it with my thumb, and as I studied it, I realized it was made of Stygian metal. Dad had once told me that anything made of Stygian metal was usually given along with a promise. Dad's promise must've been protection when he gave one to me and my mom. I realized that Zy had given me a Stygian sword. I wonder if she had a promise in mind when she did give it to me. Not to mention dad's lance could've been made of Stygian metal as well, I hadn't really thought about it, and haven't needed to bust it out before.

"So, guys, long as you're cuddled up for story time…something I've been meaning to tell you. On the way to Omaha, I had this dream. Kinda hard to understand with the static and the  _Wheel of Fortune_  breaking in-"

" _Wheel of Fortune?_ " Piper asked.

"The thing is, my dad Hephaestus talked to me." He explained how his dad came to him in his dream, warning him of the normal stuff, Olympus closing because Zeus thinks that'll solve everything, but that the giants may rise. They were described as a different breed, like dogs. Everything originally came from Gaea and Ouranos, Earth and Sky, and they had different batches of children - the Titans, the Elder Cyclopes, etc. Then, Kronos, the head Titan chopped his father Ouranos to pieces with a scythe and took over the world. Then the gods came along, children of the Titans, and defeated  _them_ , but then the earth bore a whole new batch of children, this time sired by Tartarus. Those children were the giants, bred for one purpose - revenge on the gods for the fall of the Titans. They rose up and tried to destroy Olympus, nearly succeeding. Hephaestus had explained that Hera was trying to open Zeus's eyes that the gods needed help to defeat the giants, so not much that Hades hadn't told me. And that the person the giants serve is worse than any Titan or god. He finished with his father telling him he was going to lose some friends and valuable tools, but nothing lasts forever, and everything can be reused, but since his father was using some old tech to communicate and Zeus controls the air, including the air waves, he was cut off before he could warn him of something to watch out for.

"But why would the gods stay silent if they needed us?" Piper asked.

"Those gods hate asking for help," Zy said. "They  _hate_  needing humans. They like being needed  _by_  humans, but not the other way around. They're so stubborn and prideful that they'd sooner lose a war than lose their pride, especially Zeus. Things will have to get a whole lot worse before he admits he made a mistake closing Olympus. Haven't you all heard of the Giant War? I mean, the gods  _do_  try to keep silent about it. Its bad PR to admit you needed mortals to defeat an enemy, and that's how the giants have power. They're big and scary with  _some_  power, but their real strength lies in the fact that the gods hate asking for the help of humans to defeat them. To them, that embarrassment is worth risking the giant's victory."

"There's more, though," Jason said. "When I dreamed about Hera in her cage, she said Zeus was acting unusually paranoid, and Hera went to those ruins because a voice had been speaking to her in her head. What if someone is influencing the gods, like Medea did with us?" Hades never mentioned something about Zeus acting more paranoid than usual, but I assumed that was because he thought Zeus always acted that paranoid. It didn't really comfort me to think that someone could be constantly watching over us, subtly influencing small things when we may not even realize it. Leo set hamburger buns on the skillet to toast.

"Yeah, Hephaestus said something similar, like Zeus was acting weirder than usual, but what bothered me was the stuff my dad  _didn't_  say. Like a couple of times he was talking about the demigods and how he had so many kids and all, and I don't know, he acted like getting the greatest demigods together was going to be almost impossible - like Hera was trying, but it was a really stupid thing to do, and there was some secret Hephaestus wasn't supposed to tell me."

"Chiron was the same way at camp," Jason said. "He mentioned a sacred oath not to discuss - something. Coach, you know anything about that?"

"Nah, I'm just a satyr. They don't tell us the juicy stuff. Especially an old guy-" He stopped himself.

"An old guy like you?" Piper guessed. "But you're not that old, are you?"

"Hundred and six."

"Say what?" Leo asked.

"Don't catch your pants on fire, Valdez, that's just fifty three in human years. Still, yeah, I made some enemies on the Council of Cloven Elders. I've been a protector a  _long_  time, but they started saying I was getting unpredictable. Too violent. Can you imagine?"

"Wow, that's hard to believe," Emily said.

"Yeah, then finally we get a good war going with the Titans, and do they put me on the front lines? No! They send me as far away as possible - the Canadian frontier, can you believe it? Then, after the war, they put me out to pasture. The Wilderness School. Bah! Like I'm too old to be helpful just because I like playing offense. All those flower-pickers on the Council - talking about nature."

"I thought satyrs liked nature," Piper ventured.

"Shoot, I love nature. Nature means big things killing and eating little things! And when you're, you know, vertically challenged like me, you get in good shape, you carry a big stick, and you don't take anything from no one! That's nature!" He snorted indignantly. "Flower-pickers. Anyway, I hope you got something vegetarian cooking, Valdes. I don't do flesh."

"Yeah, Coach, don't eat you cudgel. I got some tofu patties here. Piper's a vegetarian too. I'll throw them on in a second." The smell of frying burgers filled the air, and I'll admit, I wasn't a vegetarian, but after an incident with some microwave steak when I was little, I hated most meat. This did smell good though, and it wasn't like I rebelled against burgers. When Leo finally handed out the food, I requested ketchup and was able to stomach the burgers. They still tasted bland in my opinion, but they smelled good and ketchup can solve any problem.

"We need to talk," Piper suddenly said. "I don't want to hide anything from you guys anymore." We all looked to her, mouths full of burgers, and she took a deep breath before speaking. "Three nights before the Grand Canyon trip, I had a dream vision - a giant, telling me my father had been taken hostage. He told me I had to cooperate or my dad would be killed." The flames crackled as we all wondered what we could say.

"Enceladus?" Jason asked. "You mentioned that name before." Coach Hedge whistled.

"Big giant. Breathes fire. Not somebody I'd want barbecuing my daddy goat." Most of us gave him a  _shut up_ look.

"Go on, Piper, what happened next?" Jason asked.

"I-I tried to reach my dad, but all I got was his personal assistant, and she told me not to worry."

"Jane?" Leo remembered. "Didn't Medea say something about controlling her?" Piper nodded.

"To get my dad back, I had to sabotage this quest. Then, after we started the quest, Enceladus sent me another warning: He told me he wanted you all dead. He wants me to lead you to a mountain, I don't know which one, but it's in the Bay Area. I could see the Golden Gate Bridge from the summit. I have to be there by noon on the solstice tomorrow. An exchange." She stayed silent, staring at the fire and not meeting anyone's eyes. She must've expected us to hate her, yell at her, turn our backs, and throw her out into the snowstorm. Instead, Jason scooted next to her and put his arm around her again.

"God, Piper, I'm so sorry," He said.

"No kidding," Leo agreed. "You've been carrying this around for a week?"

"Piper, we can  _help_  you," Emily said. "We  _want_  to help you? How could we not?"

"Why don't you yell at me or something?!" Piper demanded. "I was ordered to kill you!"

"You've saved us on this quest," Audrey said. "You're not happy with being in this position, are you? I know you're a good person, Piper, and I'd put my life in your hands any day."

"Me too," I said. "Piper, how could we yell at you for being ordered to kill us? The only way we'd be angry is if you were happy to throw us to the giants and didn't even need your dad as a hostage to betray us.  _Then_ I'd be pretty ticked and I'd shadow travel you into a pit of dead souls to suffer."

"Never mess with Veon, lesson learned," Audrey muttered.

"But you hate the idea of choosing between us and your dad, and you're a good person, a hero."

"You don't get it!" Piper said. "I've probably just killed my dad telling you this!"

"I doubt it," Hedge said before belching. He was eating his tofu burger folded inside the paper plate, chewing it all like a taco. "Giant hasn't gotten what he wants yet, so he still needs your dad for leverage. He'll wait until the deadline passes, see if you show up."

"He's right," Zy said. "Giants are evil, but they're predictable. He'll wait for the dead line, because he believes humans are predictable as well, and that you can be swayed easily by a hostage situation. He wants you to divert the quest to this mountain, right? That means Hera is being kept somewhere else, and she has to be saved by the same day. So you have to chose between rescuing your dad or Hera. Only once you actually go and save Hera will he take care of your dad. Besides, Enceladus would never let you go even if you cooperated. You're one of the seven in the Great Prophecy." Piper looked down with a sigh.

"So we have no choice," She said miserably. "We have to save Hera or the giant king gets unleashed. That's our quest, the world depends on it, and Enceladus seems to have ways of watching me. He isn't stupid; he'll know if we change course and go the wrong way. He'll kill my dad."

"He's not going to kill your dad," Leo declared. "We'll save him."

"We don't have time! Besides, it's a trap."

"We're your friends, beauty queen. We're not gonna let your dad die. We just gotta figure out a plan."

"Would help if we knew where the mountain was," Hedge grumbled. "Maybe Aeolus can tell you that. The Bay Area has a bad reputation for demigods. Old home of the Titans, Mount Othrys, sits over Mount Tam, where Atlas holds up the sky. I hope that's not the mountain you saw." Piper looked down in thought.

"No, I don't think so. This was inland." Jason frowned at the fire, trying to remember something.

"Bad reputation…that doesn't seem right…the Bay Area…"

"You think you've been there?" Piper asked.

"I…" He looked like he was on the edge of breaking through, but anguish came to his eyes as he lost it. "I don't know. What happened on Mount Othrys?"

"Kronos built a big, nasty palace there last summer," Zy explained. "Was gonna be the new headquarters for his new kingdom and all, though there weren't any battles there. Kronos marched on Manhattan and tried to take Olympus."

"He left some other Titans in charge of the place, but after Kronos got defeated in Manhattan, the whole place just crumbled on its own," Hedge said.

"No," Jason said.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked.

"That's not what happened. I-" He tensed, looking to the cave entrance. "Did you hear that?"

"Wolves," I said. The others listened closely, and for a moment there was nothing before they heard it: howls piercing the night. "They sound close." Everyone drew their weapons and stood, Audrey already awake as she had been listening to the conversation for a while. Just outside the firelight at the entrance of the cave, I saw a pair of red eyes glowing in the dark. More wolves edged closer into the firelight - black beasts bigger than Great Danes, with ice and snow caked on their fur. Their fangs gleamed and their glowing red eyes looked disturbingly intelligent. The wolf in front was almost as tall as a horse, his mouth stained as if he'd just made a fresh kill.

" _I am Jason Grace,_ " Jason said in Latin. " _Stand down. I demand to see Lupa._ " The alpha wolf curled his lip, the fur standing along his spine. One of his lieutenants tried to advance, but the alpha wolf snapped at his ear, and all of the wolves suddenly backed into the dark.

"Dude, I gotta study Latin," Leo said, his hammer shaking in his hand. "What'd you say, Jason?"

"Whatever it was, it wasn't enough," Hedge said. "Look." The wolves were coming back, but the alpha wolf wasn't with them. They didn't attack, they waited, at least a dozen in a rough semicircle just outside the firelight, blocking the cave exit. Coach hefted his club. "Here's the plan. I'll kill them all, and you guys escape."

"Coach, they'll rip you apart," Piper said.

"Nah, I'm good."

"We can handle them," Audrey said. "Right?" Zy summoned her guns and loaded them with new magazines of bullets.

"I can handle wolves as well as the next girl." I saw a silhouette of a man coming through the storm, wading through the wolf pack. "Stick together. They respect a pack. And Hedge, no crazy stunts. We're not leaving anyone behind." The wolves parted, and the man stepped into the firelight. His hair was greasy and ragged, the color of fireplace soot, topped with a crown of what looked like finger bones. His robes were tattered fur - wolf, rabbit, raccoon, deer, and several others I couldn't identify. The furs didn't looked cured, and from the smell, they weren't very fresh. His frame was lithe and muscular, like a distance runners, but the most horrible this was his face. His thin pale skin was pulled tight over his skull, his teeth were sharpened like fangs, his eyes glowing bright red like his wolves, and when they fixed on Jason, they were full of absolute hatred.

" _Look, a son of Rome,_ " He said.

"Speak English, wolf man!" Hedge demanded. The wolf snarled before speaking English.

"Tell your faun to mind his tongue, son of Rome, or he'll be my first snack." Faun, the Roman term for satyr. The wolf man studied our group and his nostrils twitched. "So it's true. Two children of Aphrodite, a son of Hephaestus, a faun, a child of Poseidon, a child of Hades, a mortal girl with mysterious powers, and a child of Rome, of Jupiter, no less. All together without killing each other. How interesting."

"You were told about us?" I asked. He snarled, perhaps a laugh, perhaps a challenge.

"Oh, we've been patrolling for you all across the west, demigod, hoping we'd be the first to find you. The giant king will reward me when he rises. I am Lycaon, king of the wolves, and my pack is hungry." The wolves snarled in the darkness. I saw Leo reach for something out of the corner of my eye, grabbing a glass ball full of clear liquid out of his tool belt. Lycaon glared at Jason and my swords, looking for a way around them, but failing with our separated positions at the front of the cave.

"Leave," Jason said. "There's no food for you here."

"Unless you want tofu burgers," Leo offered. Lycaon bared his fangs, so clearly he was  _not_  a tofu fan.

"If I had my way," Lycaon said with regret, "I'd kill you first, son of Jupiter. Your father made me what I am. I was the powerful mortal king of Arcadia, with fifty fine sons, and Zeus slew them all with his lightning bolts."

"Sounds like Zeus," I muttered.

"Lycaon invited Zeus to dinner," Piper said. "But the king wasn't sure it was really Zeus, so to test his powers, Lycaon tried to feed him human flesh. Zeus got outraged-"

"And killed my sons!" Lycaon finished and the wolves howled behind him.

"So Zeus turned him into a wolf. They call werewolves lycanthropes, named after him, the first werewolf."

"King of wolves," Coach Hedge said. "An immortal, smelly, vicious mutt."

"I will tear you apart, faun!" Lycaon growled.

"Oh, you want some goat, buddy? Cause I'll give you goat!"

"Stop it," Emily demanded and they did. "Lycaon, sir, you said you  _wanted_  to kill Jason first, but…?"

"Sadly, you are correct. Since this one-" He waggled his claws at Piper- "has failed to kill you, you are to be delivered alive to the Wolf House. One of my patriots has asked for the honor of killing you herself."

"Who?" Audrey asked.

"Oh, a great admirer of his. Apparently, he made quite an impression on her. She will take care of you soon enough, and really, I cannot complain. Spilling your blood at the Wolf House should mark my new territory quite well. Lupa will think twice about challenging my pack."

"You are going to leave now, before we destroy you," Piper said, trying to put power into her words, but she was too weak from being turned to gold, and terrified. Lycaon's red eyes crinkled with humor.

"A brave try, girl. I admire that. Perhaps I'll make your end quick. Only the son of Jupiter is needed alive. The rest of you, I'm afraid, are dinner." Jason took a step forward.

"You're not killing anyone, wolf boy. Not without going through me." Lycaon howled and extended his claws. Jason slashed at him, but his golden sword passed straight through as if the wolf king wasn't there. Lycaon laughed.

"Gold, bronze, steel - none of these are any good against my wolves, son of Jupiter."

"Silver!" Emily shouted. "Aren't werewolves hurt by silver?!" Two gunshots rang out in the cave and two of the wolves behind Lycaon howled before melting into puddles of shadows.

"What? You think I don't have silver bullets?" Zyanya asked. "You may smell a mortal, but never underestimate a girl with "mysterious powers" Lycaon. Leo!" Leo threw his glass bottle and it shattered on the ground, splattering liquid all over the wolves - the unmistakable smell of gasoline. He shot a burst of fire at the puddle, and a wall of flames erupted. Zyanya began firing her guns at the wolves, some of them retreating from the fire alone, others catching  _on_  fire and running to the snow, and others melting from Zyanya's bullets. The rest of us couldn't attack (Hedge very unhappy about that). Every time a wolf came close, Leo shot a blast of fire at them or Zyanya shot them. Leo was getting drained though, and the gasoline was burning away. Zy had to reload her guns, which she did surprisingly fast, but the wolves were replacing the fallen just as fast as we could create them, and it wasn't like we had anywhere to run.

"I can't summon anymore gas!" Leo announced before turning red. "Wow; that came out wrong. I mean the  _burning_  kind. Gonna take the tool belt a while to recharge."

"Looks like I'm just shooting then," Zy said, and changed from semi-auto to automatic, now hitting the wolves at a faster rate. Yet as they began falling quicker, more were taking their place and getting angry at her slaughtering of their kind. When the fire from the gasoline died, the wolves were no longer prevented from retaliating, and Zyanya only had two guns to fire with, their numbers becoming a challenge with only her able to attack.

"You can't hold out forever!" Lycaon said. "A few more minutes of life, heroes. Pray to whatever gods you wish. Zeus did not grant me mercy, and you will have none from me." I grunted. No, Zeus didn't.

"I have a question," I said, walking forward and sheathing my sword. "If gold and bronze can't hurt you, how about my fist?!" I delivered a powerful right-hook and I made contact with Lycaon's face. His skin burned where I'd hit him, but only in a small shape of a rectangle. The shape of my Stygian iron ring. I moved to punch him with my left hand and there was the same result with my mother's ring. I'd have to ask about that later. I drew my sword again and swung to test if the Stygian metal really was the cause of my success, and Lycaon was forced to jump back to avoid it, rubbing his face where I'd hit him.

Before he could retaliate with an attack or with a verbal retort, the wolves behind him were struck down even faster, the ones in the cave handled by Zy, but the ones outside taken down by…arrows. Silver arrows, shaft and all. More arrows, more wolves fell, and that cut off the flood of wolves coming into the cave, allowing Zyanya to advance forward, reloading her guns before shooting the wolves outside. Lycaon caught a silver arrow in midair that went for him, only for him to yell in pain and drop the arrow, a charred, smoking gash left across his palm. Then he was struck in the shoulder by one of Zyanya's bullets, which sizzled like a steak on a grill when it got into his skin, causing him to scream in pain.

"Curse them!" He growled to what remained of his pack and the wolves turned and ran. His eyes fixed on Jason with pure rage. "This isn't over, boy!" And then the wolf king disappeared into the night. Seconds later, I heard more wolves baying, but the sound was different, less threatening, more like hunting dogs on the scent. A smaller white wolf burst into the cave, followed by two more.

"Kill it?" Hedge asked.

"No!" Emily shouted. "Wait." The wolves tilted their head and studied us with huge golden eyes. Emily kneeled down and petted them. "Aw! You are  _so_  adorable!" A heartbeat later, their masters appeared: a troop of hunters in white-and-gray winter camouflage, at least half a dozen. All of them carried bows, with quivers of glowing silver arrows on their backs. Their faces were covered with parka hoods, but they were clearly all females. One, a little taller than the others, crouched in the firelight and snatched up the arrow that had wounded Lycaon's hand.

"So close," She muttered before turning to her companions. "Phoebe, stay with me. Watch the entrance. The rest of you, follow Lycaon. We can't lose him now. I'll catch up." The other hunters mumbled in agreement and disappeared, heading after Lycaon's pack. The girl in white turned towards us, her face still hidden in her parka hood. "We've been following that demon's trail for over a week. Is everyone all right? No one bit?"

"Not a one," Zy said, releasing the magazine clips of her guns. They clattered to the floor but then disappeared as she snapped in new ones. "If you wanna take out that wolf, I suggest upgrading to the twenty-first century. Tech these days is so useful. My bullet melted within him, so he can't remove it and will be in excruciating pain. Should slow him down, but I can't guarantee you'll be able to find him. When a creature is injured, it will go to a place no one can find it until it can heal." She chuckled.

"You not a Hunter? You'd make a good one."

"Sorry sweetheart. I don't need to be a Hunter. Got the immortality and swearing off boys covered already. Besides, I prefer to go it alone." Immortality, kinda guessed that already from her god-like powers and personality, but swearing off boys?

"You're her," Piper said. "You're Thalia." The girl tensed a moment before pulling down her hood. Her hair was spiky black with a silver tiara across her brow, her face had a super-healthy glow to it, like Zyanya when she'd revealed herself - a little more than human - and her eyes were brilliant blue.

"Do I know you?" Thalia asked.

"This might be a shock, but-"

"Thalia," Jason said, stepping forward. "I'm Jason. I'm your brother."


	21. A Family of Zeus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize to those who look forward to this series continuing that I haven't been able to work with the end of school and numerous tests to study for getting in the way. I really do love working with this series and I have so many plans for it and others in the future, but so many words, so little time. (Ah, when summer finally comes…)

First Person: Zytaveon

For a minute, the two of them just stared at each other. The two looked nothing alike, only their eyes matching the same color, but clearly Thalia revealed she did indeed know about a brother based on her face. Then she rushed forward and hugged him.

"My gods! She told me you were dead!" She gripped his face and examined every detail in disbelief. "Thank Artemis. It  _is_  you! That little scar on your lip - you tried to eat a stapler when you were two!" Leo laughed.

"Seriously?" Hedge nodded like he approved of Jason's taste.

"Staplers. Excellent source of iron."

"W-Wait," Jason stuttered. "Who told you I was dead? What happened?" One of the white wolves barked.

" _We must go, mistress,_ " I translated in my head. I could understand animals too?! Awe-some! Thalia looked back at the wolf and nodded, keeping her hands on Jason's face like he might vanish into thin air at any moment.

"My wolf is telling me I don't have much time, and though she's right, we  _have_  to talk. Let's sit." Audrey sat with a sigh, and clearly she hadn't fully recovered her strength from the typhoon she had to create before, considering she wasn't able to rest until recently with Jason deciding it was a good idea to drag us across the country with the venti. The rest of us sat down as well, but there was a good deal of awkward silence, and clearly Thalia intended to have this conversation alone with her brother.

"Piper, Emily, Hedge, Audrey, Veon, Leo, I suggest we leave this to the two siblings," Zy said, sensing the tension as well.

"Perhaps you can get any injuries healed by Phoebe," Thalia suggested. "She's an excellent healer." Emily helped Audrey to her feet and headed to the entrance with Phoebe, while Hedge and Piper went with reluctance (one because they were worried, the other because they didn't wanna go out in the snow and didn't get to bash anyone), while Leo and I followed obediently.

"Actually, man, could you stick around?" Leo turned and after a moment grinned.

"Sure. Sticking around is my specialty."

"Veon, uh, you could stay as well," Zy said. "I need assistance packing these magazine cartridges." Happy that I could be in on the conversation (as I really didn't appreciate being left out), I nodded and joined her. Zy and I stayed in the back, and she actually had me packing some cartridges for her guns, but we were still in on the conversation. It didn't start for a while, but thanks to Leo the conversation, err, kinda began.

"So…the Hunters of Artemis. The whole "not dating" thing? Is that like  _always_  or more of a seasonal thing?" Thalia stared at him as if he'd just evolved from pond scum, yet Leo seemed unfazed. I guess we could officially say that Leo's type of girl were all those that hated him and were totally out of his league.  _Not that I'm one to talk…_ I thought to myself, glancing at Zy who was busy packing cartridges and putting them in a small bag, but the thing never seemed to get any fuller as she put more and more in. Infinite bags. Noted. Jason kicked Leo's shin.

"Don't mind Leo. He's just trying to break the ice. But, Thalia…what happened to our family? Who told you I was dead?" Thalia tugged at a silver bracelet on her wrist, and I could tell that she must've played with it like I always did my ring.

"Do you remember anything?" She asked, and Jason shook his head.

"No. I woke up three days ago on a bus with Leo and Piper."

"Which wasn't our fault," Leo added quickly. "Hera went and stole his memories."

"Hera?" Thalia asked, tensing. "How do you know that?" They went into detail explaining everything - the prophecy at the camp, Hera getting imprisoned, the giant taking Piper's dad, and the winter solstice deadline. Zyanya explained how we were working to help fulfill the prophecy by protecting Jason, Piper, Leo and the other seven of the prophecy once they appeared, while also working to stop this stirring of dangerous beings. I guess that was as close as I was gonna get for the quest Zy had planned for the four of us. Leo tended to break in, explaining how he fixed the bronze dragon, could throw fireballs and made excellent tacos.

Thalia was a good listener, and nothing really seemed to surprise her, from the monsters to the prophecies and the dead rising. I guess it wasn't really a surprise, as she seems to have been at this a lot longer than the rest of us, and this was probably another day for her in the life of a demigod, not to mention the life of a Hunter of Artemis. When we mentioned King Midas, she said a few strong curse words in Ancient Greek that I was a bit unhappy I translated.

"I knew we should've burned down his mansion," She said. "That man's a menace, but we were so intent on following Lycaon…Well, I'm glad you got away. Thank you for protecting my brother, Zyanya. So Hera's been…what? Hiding you all these years?"

"I don't know," Jason said. He pulled out a photo of her from his pocket. "She left me just enough memory to recognize your face. I think Hera wanted us to meet. When we landed here at this cave…I had a feeling it was important, like I knew you were close by. Does that sound crazy?"

"Nah, we were destined to meet your hot sister," Leo said, and we all ignored him.

"Jason," Thalia said. "When you're dealing with the gods, you have to know that  _nothing_  is too crazy. But you can't trust Hera, especially since were children of Zeus. She  _hates_  children of Zeus."

"But she said something about Zeus giving her my life as a peace offering. Does that make any sense?" The color drained from Thalia's face.

"Oh gods…Mother wouldn't have…You don't remember - no, of course you wouldn't."

"What?" Her features seemed to grow older as her expression darkened, like her immortality wasn't working too well.

"Jason…I'm not sure how to say this. Our mom wasn't exactly stable. She caught Zeus's eye because she was a television actress, and she  _was_  beautiful, but she didn't handle the fame very well. She drank, pulled stupid stunts, was always in the tabloids, and could never get enough attention. Even before you were born, she and I argued all the time. She…she knew Dad was Zeus, and I think that was too much for her to take. It was like the ultimate achievement for her to attract the lord of the sky, and she couldn't accept it when he left. The thing about the gods is…well…they don't stick around."

No, they didn't. Not for any of us. But my dad…well, he had tried to stay for as long as he could. I had never thought the lord of the dead could be so caring and kind compared to the other gods. He wasn't too perky like some, but he also wasn't stuck up as a king of the underworld and such. He could be serious, but as a father-son relationship went, I couldn't have asked for much better. If he  _had_  stuck around, or had introduced me to his god life long before he had, maybe things would've been worse than they are now. I began to twist my rings, both mine and my mother's, switching between the two every few seconds to a rhythm. Zyanya was right. If my mother and father had remained with me all my life, I may have ended up having a family who I hated, argued with all the time because I didn't have to worry about losing them or missing them. No matter how tragic, I wouldn't ask for anything to be different in my life.

" _I-I-I…L-L-L-O-O-O-V-V-V-E-E-E…Y-Y-Y-O-O-O-U-U-U_ ," Someone said. It sounded like a man on a radio with an extremely bad connection, talking at about two miles per hour. It kinda sounded like it belonged in a horror movie, and I wondered if anyone else could hear it too. But no one else seemed to acknowledge it, and I began to tense inside. Then, I realized it was coming from Leo. He was tapping something on his knee in Morse code, and my brain was straining to translate it. Leo must've had some kind of Morse thing within his family, and was remembering it just like I was remembering mine when Thalia began talking about her messed up past. I guess Leo, Emily, even Audrey and I all had it good when we could think about something in our past, from family and friends to objects and traditions we could cherish.

Just the thought that Zeus could possibly fall in love with a mortal was surprising, but a woman like who Thalia was describing seemed impossible. It blew my mind in a weird way. How could Zeus  _possibly_  fall for a mortal who was obsessed with popularity to the point of insanity? I mean, I guess he was  _Hera's_  husband, so…nevermind. I hadn't formally met Hera or Zeus, even if I was the son of Hades and had met Poseidon, Hestia, and basically every other god if even for only a short moment at a time. I had  _seen_  them, but never talked to them and only had speculation to go off of. Jason didn't have any memories of his family, and apparently he couldn't say anything good about it, not just because his memories were gone, but also because no one had told him many good things to go off of either.

"So…" Jason began, but didn't seem to be able to finish.

"Jason, you have friends," I said. "Leo, Piper, and the rest of us. And now you've got a sister. You're far from alone." Thalia offered her hand, and Jason took it.

"When I was about seven, Zeus started visiting Mom again," She explained. "I think he felt bad about wrecking her life, and he seemed…different somehow. A little older and sterner, more fatherly toward me. For a while, Mom improved. She loved having Zeus around, bringing her presents, causing the sky to rumble. She always wanted more attention. That's the year you were born. Mom…well, I never got along with her, but you gave me a reason to hang around. You were so cute. And I didn't trust Mom to look after you on her own.

"Of course, Zeus eventually stopped coming by again. He probably couldn't stand Mom's demands anymore, always pestering him to let her visit Olympus, or to make her immortal or eternally beautiful. When he left for good, Mom got more and more unstable. That was about the time the monsters started attacking me. Mom blamed Hera. She claimed the goddess was coming after you too, that Hera had barely tolerated my birth, but  _two_  demigod children from the same family was too big an insult. Mom even said she hadn't wanted to name you Jason, but Zeus insisted, as a way to appease Hera because the goddess liked that name. I didn't know what to believe."

Zeus sure could pick 'em. That woman sounded selfish, obnoxious, and was the girl in the movies that the guy chose to leave for the protagonist. She even sounded worse than Drew. I guess I'll never understand the gods, especially that guy. I felt like an intruder to this private conversation, and as Leo was fiddling with copper wires, I could tell he felt the same.

"How did you guys get separated?" Leo asked. Thalia squeezed her brother's hand.

"If I'd known you were alive…gods, things would've been so different. But when you were two, Mom packed us in the car for a family vacation. We drove up north toward the wine country to this park she wanted to show us. I remember thinking it was strange because Mom never too us anywhere, and she was acting super nervous about something. I was holding your hand, walking you towards this big building in the middle of the park, and…" She took a shaky breath. "…Mom told me to go back to the car and get the picnic basket. I didn't want to leave you alone with her, but it would only be a few minutes. When I came back…Mom was kneeling on the stone steps, hugging herself and crying. She said…she said you were gone, that Hera had claimed you and you were as good as dead. I didn't know what she'd done. I was afraid she'd completely lost her mind. I ran all over the place looking for you, but you'd just vanished. She had to drag me away, kicking and screaming.

"For the next few days, I was hysterical. I don't remember everything, but I called the police on Mom and they questioned her for a long time. Afterward, we'd fought. She told me I'd betrayed her; that I should support her, like  _she_  was the only one who mattered. Finally, I couldn't stand it; your disappearance was the last straw. I ran away from home and I never went back, not even when Mom died a few years ago. I thought you were gone forever. I never told anyone about you, not even Annabeth or Luke, my two best friends. It was…just too painful."

"Chiron knew," Jason said, his voice sounding far away. "When I got to camp, he took one look and me and said, "You should be dead."

"That doesn't make sense. I never told him."

"Hey, the important thing is you've got each other now, right?" Leo said. "You two are lucky." Thalia nodded.

"Leo's right. Look at you. You're  _my_  age. You've grown up."

"But where have I been?" Jason asked. "How could I be missing all that time? And all the Roman stuff…"

"Roman stuff?"

"He speaks Latin," I said. "Calls the gods by their Roman names, and he's got tattoos." I pointed out the marks on Jason's arm. I explained all the other weird stuff, Boreas turning to Aquilon, Lycaon calling Jason a son of Rome, and the wolves backing off when Jason spoke to them in Latin. Thalia plucked her bow string.

"Latin…Zeus sometimes spoke in Latin, the second time he stayed with Mom. Like I said, he seemed different, more formal."

"That could've been his Roman form," I suggested. "That would be why Jason's considered a child of Jupiter and Rome."

"Possibly. I've never heard of something like this happening, but it might explain why you think in Roman terms, why you can speak Latin rather than Ancient Greek. That would make you unique. Still, it doesn't explain how you've survived without Camp Half-Blood. A child of Zeus, or Jupiter, or whatever you want to call him - you wouldn't been hounded by monsters. If you were on your own, you should've died years ago. I know  _I_  wouldn't have been able to survive without friends. You would've needed training, a safe haven-"

"I may not be a son of Zeus, but my friend Audrey and I are still children of the Great Three and we've survived fine on our own,  _without Camp Half-Blood_ ," I said, getting slightly irritated. "Audrey has had monsters coming after her from age 8 and learned to use a dagger before she even knew there was such thing as Camp Half-Blood. I've had the monsters since 12, but I've handled them fine even when I had to face waves of monsters per day, some disguising themselves, some being undead, fast and agile, capable of flight, transformations, cloning themselves to form armies (don't ask) but the point is, we've handled ourselves. Let me be the first to admit that I basically have one day's worth of experience with a sword and no martial arts training whatsoever, but it's entirely possible that Jason could handle himself, even if you couldn't."

"Did you make it because you had your friends?"

"No, at least not for the beginning of our lives. I didn't even know about Audrey, Em, and least of all Zy until a few days ago, but I do admit that the waves of monsters decreased when we came to high school together, even if we never worked together in fighting them. But for middle school and before we were on our own. Don't even get us started on how hard it was to keep our demigod lives a secret from our families. Let's just say when I when out and met the gods for a field trip with my dad, I was grounded with excuse that I'd snuck out to a party out to a party, even though I loathe parties in reality. The point is, Jason could've been hunted for ages, but all it takes is a little knowledge and you can survive on your own. Even Piper and Leo, who had no idea about all of this demigod stuff, made it on their own, even if it was a bit rough. They may not be children of the big three, but the point still stands." Trying to keep calm and not blow my lid, I tried to come off less harsh and against Thalia's suggestion.

"That being said, I'm not ruling out the fact that he could've found some kind of sanctuary, or at the least had someone knowledgeable about the demigod life assisting him, if even for a short amount of time," I continued. "Audrey had her neighbor, a former demigod, get her started, and I had Hades show me a little about my abilities to get me started. He could've survived on his own, no matter how unlikely it seems, but I've been assessing the situation. Jason has  _trained_  skills with a sword, not just improvisation over the years. He's a son of Zeus, or Jupiter, but that doesn't give him the ability to fight so skillfully, like he did back at Midas's place. He mentioned talking about it being Roman as well."

"There were others!" Leo remembered. "Jason may not have been alone, remember?" He explained the slashed-up purple T-shirt at Medea's department store, and the story the Cyclops told about the child of Mercury who spoke Latin. "Isn't there anywhere else for demigods? I mean, besides Camp Half-Blood? Maybe some crazy Latin teacher has been abducting children of the gods or something, making them think like Romans." As crazy as Leo was putting it, he could have some kind of point. Maybe it wasn't some crazy Latin teacher, but there had to be some kind of other camp or sanctuary that trained demigods in the Roman way instead of the Greek. I wasn't exactly considering myself Greek-biased, so it wouldn't really be too much of a surprise to me if that was the case.

"I've been all over the country, but I've never seen evidence of a crazy Latin teacher," Thalia said. "Or demigods in purple shirts for that matter. Still…" Her voice trailed off like she'd just had a troubling thought."

"What?" Jason asked. Thalia shook her head.

"I'll have to talk to the goddess. Maybe Artemis will guide us."

"She's still talking to you? Most of the gods have gone silent."

"They just have to keep quiet enough and they can contact people here and there," I said, referring to Hephaestus and Hades.

"Indeed," Thalia said. "Artemis follows her own rules. She has to be careful not to let Zeus know, but she thinks Zeus is being ridiculous closing Olympus. She's the one who sent us on the trail of Lycaon. She said we'd find a lead to a missing friend of ours."

"Percy Jackson," Leo guessed. The guy Annabeth is looking for." Thalia nodded, a look of concern on her face. "So what would Lycaon have to do with it? And how does it connect to us?"

"We need to find that out soon. If your deadline is tomorrow, we're wasting time. Aeolus could tell you-" The white wolf appeared at the doorway and yipped insistently. "I have to get moving, otherwise I'll lose the other Hunter's trail. First, though, I'll take you to Aeolus's palace."

"If you can't, it's okay," Jason said, though he sounded kind of distressed.

"Oh please. I haven't had a brother in years. I think I can stand a few minutes with you before you get annoying. Now, let's go!"


	22. Aeolus's Palace

First Peron: Zytaveon

The others were in a silver tent pavilion thing right outside the cave, and I was slightly jealous. Sure, I was good being in on the story with Jason and Thalia, but I also liked being in the background in mystery, and in this case, they seemed to be enjoying themselves while we had been sitting in a freezing cold cave. Inside was a kerosene heater keeping them toasty warm and a bunch of comfy throw pillows. The three girls were now decked out in parkas, gloves and camo pants like the rest of the Hunters, and they looked a bit more like they were on a quest now. They had gotten some supplies from this Phoebe that they put in their backpacks, and the four girls along with Hedge were kicking back drinking hot chocolate.

"No, way," Leo said. "We've been sitting in a  _cave_  and you get the luxury treatment?! Somebody give me hypothermia; I want hot chocolate and a parka!" Phoebe sniffed.

"Boys," She said, as though that was the worst insult she could think of.

"What's that mean?" I asked, giving her a glare.

"It's all right, Phoebe," Thalia said. "They'll need extra coats. And I think we can spare some chocolate." Phoebe grumbled, but soon Leo and Jason were also dressed in silvery winter clothes that were incredibly lightweight and warm. Zy had given me a similar jacket, but it was army green like my normal jacket, and I could just slip it on top my regular one. I wasn't much of a hot chocolate guy (I know, don't kill me) but this stuff wasn't bad.

"Cheers!" Coach Hedge said before he crunched down his plastic thermos cup.

"That  _cannot_  be good for your intestines," Leo muttered.

"You all feeling okay?" Phoebe asked.

"Yeah," Piper said. "You guys are good at this wilderness survival thing. I feel like I could run ten miles."

"She's tough for a child of Aphrodite," Thalia whispered to Jason about Piper. "I like this one."

"Hey, I could run ten miles too," Leo volunteered. "Tough Hephaestus kid here. Let's hit it."

"Here, just in case," Zy said, passing me a gun. Despite all my videogame playing, book reading, comic book reading and TV watching, I never thought I'd actually use a gun myself. "That's the safety, magazine release, and trigger. Point and pull trigger with safety off."

"I could've guessed that," I said.

"Infinite bullets. Don't be shy."

"But we just loaded a ton of cartridges."

"I know we haven't known each other long, boy, but you should know I have my magic when it comes to weapons. Just needed an excuse for you to hear Thalia's story. I figured you'd like it with your own in mind."

"What do you mean?"

"Keep the love you had for your mom where it is. Don't go doing anything stupid to try and get your mother back, okay? If I know humans, you may very well turn on good people willingly at the chance. All it takes is a proper promise of happiness, and a human's will can be bent easily. What you saw with dirt-face-woman was weak, but she will learn what touches each of your souls and use that to her advantage. I have no doubt her offers will be more and more convincing, and not just the promise of being happy, but hostage situations as well."

"You're officially calling us humans, and admitting you're not one?"

"I am. At the moment." She walked off before I could ask and I could tell that was all I was getting out of her for now. Phoebe's tent self collapsed into a square the size of a pack of chewing gum, and I knew what I wanted for Christmas this year. We got moving, and the Hunters were seriously in shape. Maybe it was another perk of the whole Hunters becoming immortal and such, or they just really worked out. Either way, I was  _not_  in shape compared to them. Of course, I was moving faster than Valdez, so that whole saying "I don't have to outrun it, I just have to outrun you" came to mind. Audrey wasn't far ahead of me, Emily not far behind, Zy way ahead with Thalia and Phoebe, constantly looking back and making sure we didn't all fall behind, and Jason was purposefully staying at the back of the group. Then, there was Hedge, leaping around like a happy mountain goat, coaxing us like a gym coach on track days.

"Come on, Valdez! Pick up the pace! Let's chant.  _I've got a girl in Kalamazoo-_ "

"Let's not," Thalia snapped, and I would've agreed had I not been focusing all my breath into keeping up as we scaled the mountain. And so, we ran in silence. I got into a nice rhythm of breathing as I ran, and eventually I reached that stage where I was warm against the cold air around us, and was settling into the fatigue and becoming numb to it. When we finally stopped, I was pumped from the exercise and was kinda disappointed. Leo apparently didn't wanna stop either, as he ran into Thalia and nearly sent them both down the side of the mountain the hard way. Fortunately, the Hunter was light on her feet and steadied them before pointing up.

"That is a really large rock," Audrey commented. We were at the summit of Pikes Peak, and below us, the world was blanketed with clouds. The air was thin, night had set in, and the full moon shining along with the stars provided a nice view. Stretching out to the north and south, peaks of other mountains rose from the clouds like teeth. Hovering in the sky about a quarter mile away was a massive free-floating island of glowing purple stone. It was hard to judge its size from our angle, but it had to be as big and tall as a football stadium. The sides were rugged cliffs, riddled with caves, and every once in a while a gust of wind burst out with a sound like a pipe organ blast. At the top of the rock, brass was ringed some kind of fortress. The only thing connecting Pikes Peak to the floating island was a narrow bridge of ice that glistened in the moonlight. As I watched it, I realized it wasn't exactly ice, because it wasn't solid. As the winds changed direction, the bridge snaked around, blurring and thinning, in some places even breaking into a dotted line like the vapor trail of a plane.

"We're not seriously crossing that?" Leo asked. Thalia shrugged.

"I'm not a big fan of heights, I admit, but if you want to get to Aeolus's fortress, this is the only way."

"Is the fortress always just hanging there?" Piper asked. "How can people not notice it sitting on top of Pike's Peak?"

"The Mist?" I guessed. Thalia nodded. When in doubt, Mist, I guess.

"Mortals do notice it indirectly sometimes. Pike's Peak can look purple some days. People say it's a trick of the light, but actually it's the color of Aeolus's palace reflecting off the mountain."

"It's enormous," Jason said and Thalia laughed.

"You should see Olympus, little brother."

"You're serious? You've been there?" She grimaced as if it wasn't a good memory.

"Gotta admit, you could get lost in Olympus, it's so big," I said.

"You are showing me around one day," Audrey demanded.

"We should cross in two different groups," Thalia said. "The bridge is fragile."

"That's comforting," I muttered.

"Afraid of heights?" Zy asked.

"It's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop." She smiled.

"Jason, can't you or Zy just fly us up there?" Leo asked. Thalia laughed, but then she seemed to realize that Leo wasn't joking around.

"Wait…Jason, you can  _fly?_ " Jason gazed up at the floating fortress.

"Well, kind of. It's more like I can control the winds, but the winds up here are so strong, I'm not sure I'd wanna try. Thalia, you mean…you can't fly?" Thalia's face showed that she was genuinely afraid of heights, more than she had been letting on. A child of the Zeus afraid of heights? That's like a child of Poseidon afraid of water. Not impossible, but weird.

"Truthfully, I've never tried. Might be better if we stuck to the bridge."

"Well, never know if you don't try," I said before leaping onto the bridge before I could stop myself. Everyone gasped but the bridge held my weight. Zy walked on to join me with her arms crossed and a smile on her face.

"Show off," She said before continuing forward. I stared at her a moment before smiling and hurrying to keep pace with her. Best to be next to a flyer if the bridge did end up failing us. Coach Hedge ended up grabbing Piper and following, but the bridge held our weight even as we made if half way. Phoebe disappeared as Thalia, Jason and Leo came across the bridge last. The rest of us had made it to the other side, and they were half way across.

"That is one cool ice bridge," Audrey said. "Dangerous, but cool."

"Quite literally," Emily said. Piper was waving the three to continue over, but as I watched them talking, they stopped about half way and began to talk about something. Then, Leo began to steam against the ice bridge. Uh-oh. I ran down the bridge to hurry them to safety, as none of them seemed to have any intention of moving despite Leo's obvious threat to the bridge's stability.

"Jason, what did Hera call you in that dream? A  _bridge?_ " Leo was asking.

"Guys, time to go, come on!" I urged.

"Leo, seriously, cool down," Thalia said. "I don't know what you're talking about, but-"

"Just listen. If Jason is a bridge, he has to be connecting something. Maybe two places that normally don't get along, like the air palace and the ground. Wherever you're from, Jason, we've assessed there's a conflict between there and Camp Half-Blood. We don't know for sure, but it's possible Percy was sent to where you were from while you were sent to where he was from: Camp Half-Blood. Hera said you were an exchange, right?"

"An exchange…" Thalia's eyes widened. "Oh, gods."

"Time to move, people!" I said.

"I understand why Artemis sent me here. Jason, she told me to hunt for Lycaon and I would find a clue about Percy.  _You_  are the clue. Artemis wanted us to meet so I could hear your story."

"I don't understand," Jason protested. "I don't have a story; I don't remember anything!"

"But Leo's right! Everything's connected. If we just knew where-"

"Jason, that place that Lycaon mentioned, and the one you talked about in your dreams," I said. "The Wolf House! You and Lycaon mentioned The Wolf House!"

"The Wolf House?" Thalia choked in surprise. "Jason, why didn't you tell me that?!  _That's_  where they're keeping Hera?!"

"You know where it is?" Jason asked. Before she could answer, the bridge dissolved. Jason managed to grab Leo by his coat and pulled him to safety as the two scrambled up the bridge, while I tried to remain calm as I began plummeting. Jason was first focused on Leo, and then they saw Thalia shouting at them from the other side of the bridge. Something about going to find Piper's dad while she and the Hunters would go a hold the Wolf House until we got there. Thalia's distraction caused them to nearly fall as the bridge continued to dissolve, and Jason could barely support Leo's weight (their trip more like bungee jumping than flying) let alone come down to help me. Piper, Audrey, Hedge and Emily were barely able to grab onto them before Jason lost any strength he had and the last of the vapor bridge vanished.

The fall was long, I knew that, meaning I had time to assess my options. Sword, no. Turning stuff to ash, nada. Shadow travel, no shadows to touch in the middle of the sky, and I nearly died last time. Language translating, nope. Clothes changing, why do I even bother wasting my precious seconds asking? Dad's lance, um…who knows? Never used it before. I highly doubt it, but you never know what it could do. I summoned it from its sheathed form on my wrist, and I felt its power connect with mine. Suddenly it lurched upwards, nearly taking my arm off with it, and shot up to the floating palace where the others were. I ended up floating above the others before the lance suddenly lost its anti-gravity state and I was dropped…right into Zy's arms. She shouldn't have physically been able to hold me, but goddess strength came in handy, I guess.

"Hey, Death-Head," She said. "Looks like your lance has a mind of its own." She dropped me to my feet.

"Sorry I couldn't go after you, man…" Jason said.

"No problem, Jason," I said. "Besides, I trusted Zy to come after me if I couldn't figure anything out. I guess my lance here had it covered."

"What happened?" Piper demanded. "Leo, why are you smoking?"

"I got a little headed," Leo said. "Sorry, Jason. Honest, I didn't-"

"It's all right," Jason said, though his expression was grim. "We've got less than twenty four-hours to rescue a goddess and Piper's dad. Let's go see the king of the winds."

We climbed the cliffs of the floating island, and the wind spirits in my bag seemed to get heavier, fighting back as we approached. Coach Hedge and Emily seemed to be in a good mood, staying on the positive side, even when Hedge said "Don't worry. Only a few thousand more steps to go." We had explained what happened on the bridge, the concept that maybe we could save both Piper's father and Hera, but Piper wasn't sure if it was possible, no matter how optimistic the rest of us were. Granted, Piper's expression had me confused as to whether she was more hopeful or more anxious. Leo kept on checking in case he was still on fire, and I imagined what it would be like if Leo really did set his hair on fire and start blowing steam out of his ears every time he got excited. Just imagine going to a restaurant.  _I'd like a cheeseburger with fries and - Ahhh! My friend's on fire! Get me a bucket!_  I smiled at the thought. Jason seemed to be brooding over what Thalia had said. He was an exchange, we'd known that much, but I could only imagine how terrible it was to not know where you were from, who you were. Thalia had told them, in their final conversation that Jason would know where the Wolf House was, but he admitted that he currently had no idea. I hoped his memories would return soon, or else it would be all Thalia's fault for not telling us where to go. If we didn't make it in time…well, let's just hope that the perks of being a Hunter not only included eternal youth but also some kind of invincibility or immortality.

We finally arrived at the top of the island. Bronze walls marched all the way around the fortress grounds, though I couldn't imagine who would want to attack this place. Twenty-foot-high gates opened for us, and a road of polished purple stone led up to the main citadel - a white columned rotunda, Greek style, like one of the monuments in Washington, D.C., except for the cluster of satellite dishes and radio towers on the roof.

"Bizarre," Audrey muttered.

"Guess you can't get cable on a floating island," Leo joked. "Dang, check out this guy's front yard." The rotunda sat in the center of a quarter-mile circle. The ground were amazing in a scary kind of way, one that I really didn't mind. They were divided into four sections like big pizza slices, each one representing a season. The section to our right was an icy waste, with bare trees and a frozen lake. Snowmen rolled across the landscape as the wind blew, so I wasn't sure if they were decoration or actually alive. To our left was an autumn park with gold and red trees. Mounds of leaves blew into patterns - gods, people, animals that ran after each other before scattering back into leaves. In the distance I could see two more areas behind the rotunda. One looked like a green pasture with sheep made out of clouds, and the last section was a desert where tumble weeds scratched strange patters into the sand like Greek letters, smiley faces, and a huge advertisement that read  _WATCH AELOUS NIGHTLY_. I preferred the darker tone to Hade's palace in the underworld, but it was interesting, if a bit too cheerful for me.

"One section for each of the four wind gods," Zy explained. "Four cardinal directions."

"Loving that pasture," Coach Hedge said, licking his lips. "You guys mind-?"

"Go ahead," Emily said. It might actually have been better that he go off. We really didn't need to have him messing up our attempts to get on Aeolus's good side. While the satyr went off and attacked spring time, the rest of us walked down the road to the steps of the palace, passing through the front doors into a white marble foyer decorated with purple banners that read  _OLYMPIAN WEATHER CHANNEL_ , and some just read ow!

"Hello!" A woman floated up to us, literally. She was pretty in that elfish was I associated with those nature spirits back at Camp Half-Blood - petite, slightly pointy ears and an ageless face that could've been sixteen or thirty. Her brown eyes twinkled cheerfully like Emily, and I could tell she was perky. Even though there was no wind, her dark hair blew in slow motion, shampoo-commercial style, and her white gown billowed around her like parachute material. She had a white tablet in her hand, and though I couldn't tell if she had feet, I knew that she was floating above the ground. I realized she was see through, her shape fading in and out like she was made of fog.

"Are you from Lord Zeus?" She asked. "We've been expecting you." It wasn't like she was much different than a spirit, many of which I've seen before thanks to my father, so I wasn't really taken back by the sight, but the others seemed to be staring.

"Are you a ghost?" Jason asked, and I knew that wasn't the right thing to ask her as her smile turned to a pout.

"I'm an  _aura_ , sir. A wind nymph, as you might expect, working for the lord of the winds. My name is Mellie. We don't have  _ghosts_."

"Of course not, ma'am," I said quickly.

"Ah, son of Hades, are you? At least someone here knows the difference between a ghost and a nymph."

"My friend simply mistook you for Helen of Troy," Emily said, putting on her smile. "The most beautiful mortal of all time. It's an easy mistake." She was good. I had planned to read the Iliad at some point in my life, but never got around to it. I knew the basics about it though. The compliment seemed a little over the top, but Mellie smiled and even blushed. I knew Emily knew what she was doing. After the thing at the department store, where she'd said things that I hadn't admitted to anyone…and then she knew what to say about it. Emily certainly had a weird way of knowing how to get someone to calm down and see the good in people. She'd been a bit quieter recently, and I wondered if Emily wanted to talk about the final thing she'd said back there, the things about herself.

"Oh…well, then. So you  _are_  from Zeus?"

"Yes, Mellie," Zy said. "It's me, Zyanya. I was hoping you would allow us to see Aeolus as soon as possible."

"Ah, yes, Lady Zyanya. Good to see you after so long. I shall arrange a meeting immediately. Please, right this way." I looked to Zy, and she merely gave me a smile. Man, this girl is known everywhere. Mellie led us through some security doors into another lobby, consulting her tablet as she floated. She didn't look where she was going, but apparently it didn't matter as she drifted straight through a column with no problem.

"So, what kind of god are you to everyone, anyway?" I whispered to Zy as we walked.

"Trust me, you'll know soon enough. Someone's bound to say who I am in respect like people address you as "son of Hades," or "prince of the underworld." I'll let you wait in wonder until then because it makes you so angry."

"I'm not angry, just curious." She smiled evilly.

"Well, curiosity killed the cactuar, my friend." I returned the look as best I could.

"Son of Hades. Bring it on." Her expression turned amused and she looked forward, closing her eyes, while I smiled at my victory.

"Whatever, Death-Breath."

"You guys have really got to work on your flirting skills," Audrey said.

"We aren't flirting!" Zy hissed, now looking ticked. "Trust me, if I were flirting, the boy wouldn't even know what hit him. Besides, I have a strict no-dating policy."

"Why would that be?" Emily asked.

"It wouldn't be very right for a married woman to see other men. Granted, many of the gods have done so in the past, even Aphrodite. Still, I remain contempt not to go looking for such trouble. Love means nothing to one so old as I."

"How old are you?" I asked.

"That is a question you should  _never_  ask a woman, especially a goddess, good sir."

"Prince of the underworld? I'm far from a good sir."

"Please, you're good and you know it."

"We're out of prime time, so that's good," Mellie was saying. "I can fit you in right before his 11:12 spot."

"Thank you, Mellie." The lobby was a pretty distracting place, winds blasting around us, and it was like walking through a crowd of spirits, just a little different as these people were alive and didn't resonate with me like those who were dead did. Doors blew opened and closed by themselves, paper airplanes of all different sizes and shapes sped around, and other wind nymphs,  _aurai_ , and would occasionally pluck them out of the air, unfold them, read them, then toss them back into the air where the planes would refold themselves and keep flying.

A creature that looked like a mix between an old lady and a chicken on steroids fluttered past. She had a wrinkled face with black hair tied in a hairnet, arms like a human plus wings like a chicken, and a fat feathered body with talons for feet. It was amazing she could fly at all. She kept drifting around and bumping into things like a parade balloon. I guessed she was a harpy, even if any other harpies I'd seen before were a bit more fit and deadly.

"Not an  _aura_?" Jason asked Mellie as the creature wobbled by. Mellie laughed.

"That's a harpy, of course. Our, ah, ugly stepsisters, I suppose you would say. Don't you have harpies on Olympus? They're spirits of violent gusts, unlike us  _aurai_. We are all gentle breezes."

"Course you are."

"So," Piper prompted. "You were taking us to see Aeolus?" Mellie led us through a set of doors like an airlock. Above the interior door, a green light blinked.

"We have a few minutes before he starts," Mellie said cheerfully. "He probably won't kill you if we go now. Come along!"


	23. The Master of the Winds

First Person: Zytaveon

The central section of Aeolus's fortress was as big as a cathedral, with a soaring domed roof covered in silver. Television equipment floated randomly through the air - cameras, spotlights, set pieces, potted plants. And…there was also no floor. An enormous circular pit plunged into the heart of the mountain, probably half a mile deep, honeycombed with caves, some of them most likely leading outside. I remember seeing winds blasting out of them while we had been outside. Other caves were sealed with some glistening material like glass or wax. The whole cavern bustled with harpies, aurai, and paper airplanes, but for someone who couldn't fly, it would be a very long fall, very fatal. Had Jason not pulled us back, Leo and I would've fallen into the chasm, the girls behind us stopping behind us, and Zy walking forward like the chasm wasn't even there before turning and noticing she was hovering in the air. Show off.

"Holy-!" Leo gulped. "Hey, Mellie. A little warning next time?!"

"Oh my," Mellie gasped. "I'm so sorry." She unclipped a walkie-talkie from somewhere inside her robes and spoke into it. "Hello, sets? Is that Nuggets? Hi, Nuggets, could we got a floor in the main studio, please? Yes, a solid one. Thanks." A few seconds later, an army of harpies rose from the pit - three dozen or so demon chicken ladies, all carrying squares of various building material. They went to work hammering and gluing - and using large quantities of duck tape that did  _not_  reassure me. In no time there was a makeshift floor snaking out over the chasm. It was made of plywood, marble blocks, carpet squares, wedges of grass sod - just about anything.

"Are we sure that's safe?" Audrey asked.

"Oh, it is!" Mellie assured us. "The harpies are very good." Easy for her to say. She just drifted across without touching the floor. As I'd found my lance could save me if I fell, I stepped out first, doing what I always have in situations like this and going for it before I could convince myself not to. Amazingly, the floor held, and I forced myself to walk forward. Jason, the third safest person since he could (sort of) fly too, (the first safest being Zy since she was still showing off and hovering about an inch above the makeshift ground) came next. Piper quickly gripped his hand as she followed.

"If I fall, you're catching me," She ordered.

"Uh, sure," Jason said. Leo stepped out next.

"You're catching me too, Superman. But I ain't holding your hand." Audrey and Emily followed me.

"I want a lance that helps  _me_  fly…" Audrey muttered.

"I'd say you'd get a trident," I said. "Maybe you'll get one later. Power takes time to develop." Mellie led us toward the middle of the chamber where a loose sphere of flat-panel video screens floated around a kind of control center. A man hovered inside, checking monitors and reading paper airplane messages. The man didn't seem to notice us as we approached. Mellie pushed a forty-two-inch Sony out of their way and led them into the control area. Leo whistled.

"I  _gotta_  get a room like this," He said. The floating screens showed all sorts of television programs. Some I could recognize, news broadcasts mostly, but some programs looked a bit strange: gladiators fighting, demigods battling monsters. Maybe they were movies, but they looked more like reality shows. At the far end of the sphere was a silky blue backdrop like a cinema screen, with cameras and studio lights floating around it. The man in the center was talking into an earpiece phone, a remote in each hand, pointing to various screens, seemingly at random.

He wore a business suit that looked like the sky - blue mostly, but dappled with clouds that changed and darkened and moved across the fabric. He looked like he was in his sixties, with a shock of white hair, but he had a ton of stage makeup on, and that smooth plastic-surgery look to his face, so he appeared not really young, but not really old. Just  _wrong_  - like a Ken doll someone had halfway melted in a microwave. His eyes darted back and forth from screen to screen, like he was trying to absorb everything at once. He muttered things into his phone, and his mouth kept twitching, like he was either amused, or crazy, or both. Mellie floated towards him.

"Ah, sir. Mr. Aeolus, these demigods and Lady Zy-"

"Hold it!" He held up a hand to silence her, then pointed at one of the screens. "Watch!" It was one of those storm-chaser programs, where insane thrill-seekers drive after tornados. I hadn't watched them personally, but I'd seen a show about them on  _Mythbusters_ , so I maybe knew what was going on. As we watched, a Jeep plowed straight into a funnel cloud and got tossed into the sky. Emily gasped with her hands going to her mouth while Aeolus shrieked with delight. "The Disaster Channel. People do that  _on purpose!_ " He turned to us with a mad grin. "Isn't that amazing? Let's watch it again."

"That's horrible!" Emily protested. "How could you possibly approve of that?!"

"Um, sir, this is Zyanya," Mellie said. "And Jason, son of-"

"Ah, Zyanya, you look different," He interrupted. "It hasn't been that long, has it? You look nice this time."

"You saying I didn't look good last time?" Zy asked. "This girl looks near identical to my last host!" So Lucy  _was_  a  _host_  to a god, not just Zyanya taking the identity of someone who had died. Glad that was confirmed, but the question remained whether Lucy  _allowed_  Zyanya in willingly, or if Zyanya went in on her own and left her no choice.

"Of course, my lady, of course. And Jason, yes, I remember you. You're back. How did it go?" Jason hesitated.

"Sorry? I think you've mistaken me-"

"No, no, Jason Grace, aren't you? It was - what - last year? You were on your way to fight a sea monster, I believe."

"I-I don't remember." Aeolus laughed.

"Must not have been a very good sea monster! No, I remember every hero who's ever come to me for aid. Odysseus - gods, he docked at my island for a month! At least you only stayed a few days. Now, watch this video. These ducks get sucked straight into-"

"Ducks!?" Emily asked in horror, afraid of him completing that sentence.

"Sir," Mellie interrupted. "Two minutes to air."

"Air!" Aeolus exclaimed. "I love air. How do I look? Makeup!" Immediately a small tornado of brushes, blotters, and cotton balls descended on Aeolus. They blurred across his face in a cloud of flesh-tone smoke until his coloration was even more gruesome than before. Wind swirled through his hair and left it sticking up like a frosted Christmas tree.

"Uh, Mr. Aeolus?" I asked, slipping off the golden backpack. "We brought you these rogue storm spirits."

"Did you?!" Aeolus looked at the bag like it was a gift from a fan - something he really didn't want. "Well, how nice."

"Um, oh, right," Jason said. "Boreas sent us to capture them for you. We hope you'll accept them and stop - you know - ordering demigods to be killed and stuff." Aeolus laughed, and looked incredulously at Mellie.

"Demigods be killed? Did I order that?" Mellie checked her computer tablet.

"Yes, sir, fifteenth of September. "Storm spirits released by the death of Typhon, demigods to be held responsible," etc…yes, a general order for them all to be killed."

"Oh pish, I was just grumpy. Rescind that order, Mellie, and um, who's on guard duty today - Teriyaki? - Teri, take these storm spirits down to cell block Fourteen E, will you?" A harpy swooped out of nowhere and snatched the golden bag before spiraling into the abyss. Aeolus grinned at us. "Now, sorry about that kill-on-sight business, but gods, I really was mad, wasn't I?" His face suddenly darkened, and his suit did the same, the lapels flashing with lightning. "You know…I remember now. Almost seemed like a voice was telling me to give that order; a little cold tingle on the back of my neck." Uh-oh. More about that whole voice thing, and that was  _not_  a good sign.

"A…um…voice in your head, sir?" Jason asked.

"Yes. How odd. Mellie,  _should_  we kill them?"

"No, sir," She said patiently. "They just brought us the storm spirits, which makes everything all right."

"Of course," He laughed. "Sorry. Mellie, let's send the demigods something nice. A box of chocolates perhaps."

"A box of chocolates to  _every_  demigod in the world, sir?"

"No, too expensive. Nevermind."

"It's okay, sir," Emily said. "Just rescinding the order to kill us on sight is more than enough."

"Wait, it's time! I'm on!" He flew off toward the blue screen as newscast music started to play.

"Uh, is he always like that?" Audrey asked Mellie. She smiled sheepishly.

"Well, you know what they say. If you don't like his mood, wait five minutes. That expression "whichever way the wind blows" was based on him, after all."

"And that thing about the sea monster," Jason said. " _Was_  I here before?" Mellie blushed.

"I'm sorry, I don't remember. I'm Mr. Aeolus's new assistant. I've been with him longer than most, but still not that long."

"How long do his assistants usually last?" Piper asked.

"Oh…I've been doing this for…twelve hours?"

" _And now, whether every twelve minutes!_ " A voice from the floating speakers blared. " _Here's your forecaster for Olympian Weather - the OW! channel - Aeolus!_ " Lights blazed on said wind lord, who was now standing in front of the blue screen. His smile was unnaturally white, and he looked like he'd had so much caffeine his face was about to explode.

"Hello Olympus! Aeolus, master of the winds here, with weather every twelve! We'll have a low-pressure system moving over Florida today, so expect milder temperatures since Demeter wishes to spare the citrus farmers!" He gestured to the blue screen, and I looked at the monitors to see a digital image was being projected behind him, so it looked like he was standing in front of a U.S. map with animated smiley suns and frowny storm clouds.

"I don't understand why even the gods don't just get a damn TV screen instead of doing the whole "blank screen behind me" thing," Zy whispered to me. To be honest, I wondered why weather people did that too. Sure, maybe a long time ago a green screen - or blue screen in this case - seemed like a cool idea, but why would they intentionally make it so that the announcers couldn't see what they were pointing at when they were pointing at it? It may seem cool that they can improvise and whatnot, but it was just taking the hard route for no reason.

"Along the eastern seaboard - oh, hold on," Aeolus continued before tapping his earpiece. "Sorry, folks! Poseidon is angry with Miami today, so it looks like that Florida freeze is back on! Sorry, Demeter." Audrey stared.

"So dad just has random mood swings that constantly affect the weather?" She asked.

"Pretty much, yeah," Zy said. "Gods have multiple personalities, if you will. Never know when one version of the god will have a random fit."

"Over in the Midwest, I'm not sure what St. Louis did to offend Zeus, but you can expect winter storms! Boreas himself is being called down to punish the area with ice. Bad news, Missouri! No, wait. Hephaestus feels sorry for central Missouri, so you all will have much more moderate temperatures and sunny skies."

"So…all of the gods are just, like, everywhere causing all of this?" I asked. I mean, we had just seen Boreas recently, and it didn't really seem like he was going anywhere, and who knows about Hephaestus? Wonder what he was doing after he talked to Leo. Wasn't like the gods were constantly tormenting and looking over the U.S., were they? "No wonder this guy is so busy with announcing the weather." Aeolus kept going like that - forecasting each area of the country and changing his prediction two or three times as he got messages over his earpiece - the gods apparently putting in orders for various winds and weather. Man, I knew the gods had been split and such, their consciousness multiple places at once and all (the reason there were so many siblings at Camp Half-Blood so close in age) but it was like one of each of their consciousnesses were dedicated to weather.

"That can't be right," Jason whispered. "Weather can't be this random." Mellie smirked.

"And how often are the mortal weathermen right? They talking about fronts and air pressure and moisture, but they weather surprises them all the time. At least Aeolus tells us  _why_  it's so unpredictable. Very hard job, trying to appease all the gods at once. It's enough to drive anyone…" She trailed off, but I could guess what she meant. Mad? Insane?

"Crazy," Zy muttered under her breath. "It's a pain in the ass all right, especially if you have no other choice and it's basically the only point of your existence." I'm not sure if she meant for anyone to hear her, she was so quiet, but I had a feeling she wasn't talking just about Aeolus.

"And that's the weather," Aeolus concluded. "See you in twelve minutes, because I'm sure it'll change!" The lights shut off, the video monitors went back to random coverage, and just for a moment, Aeolus's face sagged with weariness. They he seemed to remember he had guests and he put a smile back on. "So, you brought me some rogue storm spirits. Uh…thanks! I suppose…And did you want something else? I assume so. Demigods always do."

"Um, Aeolus?" Zy asked. He looked to her, seemingly having forgot her presence altogether and acknowledging her as though she'd just arrived.

"Ah! What's-your-name! Have you come from Olympus on behalf of your grandfather this time? Finally! I  _knew_  they would send someone to renegotiate my contract!" Zy sighed and put a hand on her head, muttering something in another language. I didn't know what it was, but I was able to translate it.

" _Oh, for Geb's sake…_ "

"Grandfather?" I asked.

"Oh, thank goodness! It's been what, three thousand years since Zeus made me master of the winds. Not that I'm ungrateful, of course! But really, my contract is so vague. Obviously, I'm immortal, but "master of the winds." What does that mean? Am I a nature spirit? A demigod? A god? I  _want_  to be god of the winds, because the benefits are  _so_  much better. Can we start with that?"

"I believe "master of the winds" sounds a bit more original, don't you think?" Emily asked, trying to stay on his good side. I know I don't wanna be the one to tell him we're not here to promote him and get that whole "kill all demigods" thing reinstated. "I mean, all the other gods are called "gods of something," but "master" is something original, right?"

"Dude, you think we're here to promote you?" Leo asked.

"You are then?" Aeolus grinned, and I wondered how he came to that conclusion from Leo's tone and the phrasing of the question. I guess he was a busy god and he not very…mentally stable, but I wouldn't be surprised if many of the other gods didn't understand humans even after all this time. Aeolus's business suit turned completely blue, not a cloud in the fabric, and I knew that meant he was pretty hyped - meaning it was  _not_  gonna be nice when someone dropped the bombshell we weren't here to promote him. "Marvelous! I mean, I think I've shown quite a bit of initiative with the weather channel, eh? And of course, I'm in the press all the time. So many books have been written about me:  _Into Thin Air, Up in the Air, Gone with the Wind-_ "

"Er, I don't think those are about you," Jason said, before he noticed Mellie  _and_  Zyanya shaking their heads.

"Nonsense. Mellie, they're biographies of me, aren't they?"

"Absolutely, sir," Mellie squeaked.

"There, you see? I don't read. Who has time? But obviously the mortals love me. I admit, though, girl, you have a point that "master" does sound unique, but "god of the winds" is more powerful, and it's a classic. So, we'll change my official title to  _god_  of the winds. Then, about salary and staff-"

"We're not from Olympus," Zy interrupted, and I was glad she said it and didn't force me to. Usually, when no one spoke up, I was the one that had to spat out bad news. "I am Zyanya, Aeolus, as I've previously told you. Now, I can make a request to Zeus of your conditions, but we aren't currently here to negotiate your contract." He studied her carefully.

"Ah, so you chose a demigod of Zeus, did you? I recall your previous form was also a female child of Zeus."

"It's not as though I favor Zeus, I merely find this woman worthy, as did I find the previous. Zeus can be annoying, but that doesn't mean his offspring are. Besides, there are numerous beings I could switch to should this body wear out. I find children of Apollo suit my needs very well too, for example. Possibly Aphrodite or even Hecate as well. In any case, we're not here because I'm making a grand debut. My friends here require your assistance." His expression hardened.

"Like  _every_  hero who comes here? Demigods! It's always about  _you_ , isn't it?"

"Sir, please," Jason said. "I don't remember last time, but if you helped me once before-"

"I'm always helping! Well, sometimes I'm destroying, but mostly helping, and sometimes I'm asked to do both at the same time! Why, Aeneas, the first of your kind-"

"My kind? You mean demigods?"

"Oh, please! I mean your  _line_  of demigods. You know, Aeneas, son of Venus - the only surviving hero of Troy. When the Greeks burned down his city, he escaped to Italy, where he founded the kingdom that would eventually become Rome, blah, blah, blah.  _That's_  what I meant."

"I don't get it," Jason admitted. Aeolus rolled his eyes.

"The point being, I was thrown in the middle of that conflict too! Juno calls up: "Oh Aeolus, destroy Aeneas's ships for me. I don't like him." Then Neptune says, "No, you don't! That's my territory. Calm the winds." Then Juno is like, "No, wreck his ships or I'll tell Jupiter you're uncooperative!" Do you think it's easy juggling requests like that?" Yeesh; that  _did_  sound like a nightmare. Gods were so annoying sometimes, and I wonder how bad it could've been if Mars, Roman god of war, and Victoria, Roman Goddess of victory (with a serious obsession with winning all conflicts) were involved with arguments like that. If the few minutes I'd known them were any indication…yikes.

"I guess not," Jason said.

"And don't even get me started on Amelia Earhart! I'm  _still_  getting angry calls from Olympus about knocking  _her_  out of the sky!"

"We just want information," Piper said in her most calming voice. "We hear you know everything." Aeolus straightened his lapels and looked slightly mollified.

"Well… _that's_  true, of course. For instance, I know that  _this_  business here" - He waggled his fingers at Jason, Piper and Leo - "this harebrained scheme of Juno's to bring you all together is likely to end in bloodshed. Not to mention the risk  _you're_  trying to take, " _Zyanya_." A fancy name this time, I'll admit. As for you, Piper McLean, I know your father is in serious trouble." He held out his hand and a scrap of paper fluttered into his grasp. It was a photo of a Piper and a guy that had to have been her dad. Piper took the photo, her hand shaking, and Emily put her hand on Piper's comfortingly.

"This…this is from his wallet," She said.

"Yes," Aeolus said. "All things last in the wind eventually come to me. The photo blew away when the Earthborn captured him."

"The what?" Aeolus waved aside the question and narrowed his eyes at Leo.

"Now,  _you_ , son of Hephaestus…yes, I see your future." Another paper fell into the wind god's hands - an old tattered drawing done in crayons. Leo took it as if it might be coated in poison and he staggered backward.

"Leo?" Emily asked, noticing his reaction and moving to him in concern as well. "What is it?"

"Something I-I drew when I was a kid." He folded it quickly and put it in his coat. "It's…yeah, it's nothing." Aeolus laughed.

"Really? Just the key to your success!" Emily looked to Leo, and he shot her a "please don't say anything" look, so clearly she had caught what the drawing Leo held was. Emily looked down in response, her face full of worry, but also curiosity. Clearly this conversation wasn't over. "And you, Emily," Aeolus continued and passed her a picture. She looked at it in surprise before looking up at Aeolus. "Oh, don't believe that I don't know about that. I have no reason to spread the rumors and gossip. I merely care if it involves the weather, which this doesn't." She looked to the picture again before slipping it away as well. Another thing to add to my list of mysteries. Now, he looked to me before sighing. "And, you, son of Hades," He said, and I couldn't tell if he was saying that like he loathed my existence, or he pitied it.

"Yes?" I asked. He continued to look me, clearly signaling that whatever he knew about me must  _not_  be good. He sighed again.

"Well, good luck with that."

"Aeolus, do you perhaps have…" Zy trailed off before the man sighed once more. Man, was my future  _that_ disappointing? Or that daunting? He passed me a photo this time, and I looked at it with curiosity, but also fear of what I'd see

I'm not sure what I expected, but the picture turned out to be of Hades, dressed in normal clothes, jeans, T-shirt (black, of course), etc., but he was also with a woman and a boy by his side. The ones from my dream. My mom and I. My mother was holding my dad's hand, her ring clearly visible on her left middle finger, while the two of them were looking down on little me, smiling. I stared at my mom's face in awe. I could only see her face from an angle, but I could see enough, burning the image into my mind so I would always know the face of my mother. Sure, I'd been adopted by a family, and my mom and dad were nice, but I'd always wondered what my birth mom looked like. The dream when I'd saw her hadn't been so clear, and since it was a dream it faded pretty quickly from my mind. Now, I had a picture of her; a captured moment in time that could hold my mother's memory forever. A little dramatic, maybe, but it was the truth. This was the only way I could see her face now, because I'd never see her face in person ever again.

"Veon?" Audrey asked, putting a hand on my shoulder. I slipped the photo into my jacket pocket, hoping that I hadn't been gawking at it for too long.

"Thanks. We're not asking for you to do any work, Aeolus, we just need information."

"Information? Are you sure about that?" He asked. "Sometimes information can be dangerous, you know." He smiled like he was issuing a challenge, and behind him, Mellie shook her head in warning.

"Yeah," Jason said. "We need to find the lair of Enceladus." Aeolus's smile melted.

"The giant? Why would you want to go there? He's horrible! He doesn't even watch my program!" Piper held up her photo.

"Aeolus, he'd got my father. We need to rescue him and find out where Hera is being held captive."

"Now  _that's_  impossible. Even  _I_  can't see that, and believe me, I've tried. There's a veil of magic over Hera's location, very strong and impossible to locate."

"I'd think you'd be able to pinpoint the location by searching for where you can't see," Zy said. "Negative space. The one place you can't see is the location we're looking for."

"She's at a place called the Wolf House," Jason suggested.

"Hold on!" Aeolus put a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes. "I'm getting something! Yes, she's at a place called the Wolf House! Sadly, I don't know where that is." Zy rolled her eyes.

"Enceladus does," Piper persisted. "If you help us find him, we could get the location of the goddess-"

"And if we save her, she'd be really grateful to you-" Leo caught on.

"And Zeus might promote you," Jason finished. Aeolus's eyebrows crept up.

"A promotion - and all you request from me is the giant's location?"

"Well, if you could get us there too," Jason amended. "That would be great." Mellie clapped her hands in excitement.

"Oh, he could do that! He often sends helpful winds-"

"Mellie quiet! I have half a mind to fire you for letting these people in under false pretenses."

"Well if you'd merely allowed us to  _explain_  our reasons…" Zy muttered.

"Yes, sir," Mellie muttered. "Sorry, sir."

"It wasn't her fault," Jason said. "But about that help…" Aeolus tilted his head as if thinking, but I quickly realized he was listening to voices in his ear piece.

"Well…Zeus approves," Aeolus muttered. "Hey says…he says it would be better if you could avoid saving her until after the weekend, because he has a big party planned - Ow! That's Aphrodite yelling at him, reminding him that the solstice starts at dawn. She says I should help you. And Hephaestus…yes. Hmm. Very rare they agree on anything. Hestia and Hades, too. Oh, this is serious if Hades  _and_  Poseidon are there. Hold on…" I looked to the others who were smiling. Everyone's parents were there and standing up for them. Along with Hestia for some reason, but I guess she had to be there to keep the peace if Zeus got into an argument with both Hades and Poseidon (because if I knew anything about those brothers, they  _were_  going to somehow get into an argument).

Back toward the entrance, I heard a loud belch and turned to see Coach Hedge waddling in from the lobby, grass all over his face. Mellie saw him coming across the makeshift floor and caught her breath. "Who is that?" She asked. I raised an eyebrow, but I guess I wasn't gonna look at the weird feelings of a non-human creatures.

"That's just Coach Hedge," Jason said. "Our, uh…our guide."

"He's  _so_  goat-ly," Mellie murmured. Behind her, Piper puffed out her cheeks, pretending to vomit. I would've done the same thing had I not been within sight of Mellie and Emily wasn't keeping me respectful with just a glance.

"What's up guys?" Hedge trotted over. "Wow, nice place. Oh! Sod squares."

"Coach, you just ate," I said. "And we're using the sod as a floor. Uh, this is Mellie."

"An aura," He said, smiling winningly. "Beautiful as a summer breeze." Mellie blushed and I looked to the side, barely avoiding completely rolling them.

"And Aeolus here was just about to help us," Jason said.

"Yes," The wind lord muttered. "It seems so. You'll find Enceladus on Mount Diablo."

"Devil Mountain?" Leo asked. "That doesn't sound good."

"I remember that place!" Piper said. "I went there once with my dad. It's just east of San Francisco Bay."

"The Bay Area again?" Coach asked before shaking his head. "Not good. Not good at all."

"Now," Aeolus said, beginning to smile. "As for getting you there-" Then, suddenly, his face went slack. He bent over and tapped his earpiece as if it were malfunctioning. When he straightened again, his eyes were wild. Despite the makeup, he looked like an old man - an old, very frightened man.

"Uh-oh…" I muttered, knowing that definitely meant trouble.

"Great," Zy muttered, cursing under her breath.

"She hasn't spoken to me for centuries. I can't - yes, yes I understand." He swallowed, regarding us as though we'd suddenly turned into a bunch of cockroaches. "I'm sorry, son of Jupiter. New orders. You all have to die." Mellie squeaked.

"But - but, sir! Zeus said to help them. Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hades and Poseidon-"

"Mellie! Your job is already on the line. Besides, there are some orders that transcend even the wishes of the gods, especially when it comes to the forces of nature."

" _Whose_  orders?!" Audrey demanded.

"Zeus will fire you if you don't help us!" Jason tried.

"I doubt it," Aeolus said before flicking his wrist. Far below us, a trapdoor opened in the pit, and I could hear storm spirits screaming out of it, spiraling up towards us and howling for blood. "Even Zeus understands the natural order of things. And if  _she_  is waking - by all the gods - she cannot be denied. Goodbye heroes. I'm terribly sorry, but I'll have to make this quick. I'm back on the air in four minutes."

"Aeolus, those orders can be overridden by my word as well-" Zy began.

"You are merely a granddaughter of Zeus, and therefore your word means no more than any other demigod." She cursed under her breath again.

"I swear, it's like talking to Dory from  _Finding Nemo_ …" She muttered before trying to speak up again. "Aeolus, no word is superior to mine. As I have  _already_  told you  _twice_ , I am-"

"I know, I know, daughter of Zenobia, former host of  _it_. But that doesn't make your authority anymore sound than  _hers_." She sighed.

"I am  _so_  telling Zeus to lower your pay when this is all over…"

"As much as I'd love your recommending my promotion, orders are orders."

"No!" Mellie yelled, diving for our feet just as the storm spirits hit with hurricane force, blasting the floor to pieces, shredding the carpet samples and marble linoleum into what should've been lethal projectiles, had Mellie's robes not spread out like a shield and absorbed the brunt of the impact. All of us went falling down into the pit, and I quickly drew my lance.

"Mellie, you are  _so_  fired!" Aeolus called above us.

"I need assistance to anyone who can control the air!" Mellie said. "Quickly, or you're all dead!" The storm spirits were following us down, closing in rapidly, and bringing with them a cloud if deadly shrapnel.

"Group hug, everyone!" Zy shouted, grabbing Audrey's hand and signaling for her to grab Emily's. Then Leo, Hedge, and Piper joined them in huddling together, handing on to Jason, Zy, Mellie and I (did not mean for that to rhyme, by the way).

"This is NOT GOOD!" Leo yelled.

"Bring it on, gas bags!" Hedge yelled up at the storm spirits. "I'll pulverize you!"

"He's magnificent," Mellie sighed.

"Concentrate?!" Jason, Zy and I prompted together.

"Right!" She said, snapping to attention. Jason and Mellie channeled the wind so our fall became more of a tumble, and then Zy grabbed my lance, her hand over mine, before rearing back our connected hands on the lance and swinging it towards one of the tunnels.

"Hold on!" She shouted. The lance dragged us forward, stabilizing us with more direction. We slammed into the tunnel at painful speed, going down a steep vent that was  _not_  designed for people, but there was no way to stop now. Mellie's robes billowed around her, and the others clung to it to stay together while I held on to both Zy and the lance. I heard the storm spirits screaming in the tunnel behind us, and knew that if they caught up, we'd be in trouble.

"Can't - hold - long," Mellie warned. "Stay together! When the winds hit-"

"You're doing great, Mellie," Hedge said. "My own mama was an aura, you know. Couldn't have done better herself."

"Iris-message me?" She pleaded and Hedge winked.

"Could you guys please plan your date  _later?_ " Piper screamed. "Look!" Behind us, the tunnel was turning dark, and I could feel my ears pop as the pressure built. Not good.

"Can't hold them," Mellie warned.

"I got it!" Zy shouted and began to glow. Her white aura slowly spread to the rest of us, and I felt the pressure return to normal around me. "I can shield us!"

"Right, and I'll try to do you one more favor."

"Thanks Mellie," Emily said. "I hope you get a new job!" She smiled and then dissolved before we were hit with the storm winds, and despite Zy's shielding, the wind was still knocked out of me from the punch as we were sent shooting into the sky so fast, I blacked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact that I found while writing this chapter: on page 420, at the bottom of the page Aeolus is misspelled as Aelous. Never thought a printed book would have spelling errors, but I guess it proves that no one's perfect, so don't blame anyone for spelling and grammar mistakes and just enjoy reading and writing. (Once again, I make no attempt to plagiarize, the book's rights belong to Rick Riordan. :) )


	24. Coffee Shop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the lack of updates and not a lot of storyline, but school has come to that point where you're swamped with homework and studying for finals and such (curse you annotated bibliographies!) but I really enjoy writing and will keep going whether tons of people are reading or not.

First Person: Zytaveon

" _The gates to Tartarus are open. The Doors of Death are open. Gaea is your enemy. Lull her back to slumber, or the dead shall continue to rise, monsters shall regenerate with even greater speed. The giants will lay waste to the birthplace of the gods, and all civilization will burn. Keep the balance. Order shall be met with Chaos soon._ "

I woke to find myself at a table at a sidewalk café. It was a sunny morning, the air brisk but not unpleasant for sitting outside. At the other tables, a mix of bicyclists, business people, and collage kids sat chatting and drinking coffee. I smelled eucalyptus trees, and food that made me realize how hungry I was. Lots of foot traffic passed in front of quaint little shops, the street lined with bottle-bush trees and blooming azaleas as if winter was a foreign concept. In other words: California.

"Morning, Shadows." I turned to see Zy, slipping on her regular jacket in a seat next to me, as opposed to the parka she had gotten from the hunters for the trip to Aeolus's place. "I would've said "Morning, Sunshine," but it seemed a little inappropriate for you." I sat up, stiff from sleeping in an uncomfortable chair, and stretched.

"Where are we?"

"Café Verve, Walnut Creek, California. Around 9 A.M. on December 21, the winter solstice. There's a…2.8 mile per hour breeze, it's about 73.6 degrees out, but rising, humidity at about 56% and dropping very slowly, altitude: about 43.63 meters, or 143.14 feet, approximate GPS longitude and latitude coordinates: 37° 53' 51.8496" North 122° 3' 42.4584" West, and-"

"Okay, I get the point, show off." She smiled and slipped something in her inner jacket pocket. "What's that?"

"Nothing. Just ordered some coffee, and checking if this girl has a wallet. Money isn't a problem for me, but for her, well…let's just say she went about the first half of her life stealing like a champ." What she put in her pocket looked more like a pen or something, but whatever. I wasn't gonna pry on the goddess that could blast me to cinders if I challenged her.

"So…I had this dream before I woke up. Well, it wasn't really a dream. More like just this voice telling me things. It told me the Doors of Death are open, and that we need to put Gaia, or Gaea as the voice called it, back to sleep, keep the balance when order and chaos meet." She leaned forward, suddenly snapping to full attention.

"Order and Chaos meeting? What did this voice say to the exact detail?"

"Um, "The gates to Tartarus have opened. The Doors of Death are open. Gaea is your enemy. Lull her back to slumber, or the dead will continue to rise, monsters will regenerate with greater speed. The giants will destroy the birthplace of the gods, and all civilization will burn. Keep the balance. Order shall be met with Chaos soon."

"The final line, "Order shall be met with Chaos soon." Are you sure those are the exact words?"

"Yeah, why? What's up?" She shook her head with a sigh.

"Things are gonna get hectic soon, that's all. Hopefully we're all strong enough to make it past everything." I guess I could've predicted that.

"First we make it through this, get Piper's dad and Hera. Then we have to go check on Thanatos. That's what my dad told me, anyway."

"Right. But it will be a while before we can go and search for Thanatos. You didn't hear it from me, but we're going on another quest after this with some of the other seven of the Great Prophecy. It's our job to look after them on their journey to fulfill the prophecy, but we have to wait a good deal of time back at camp before the next quest ensues. Might provide a good opportunity for you, Audrey and Emily to adjust to your new demigod life back at Camp Half-Blood."

"We can…never go back, can we? Everything just ended in a flash with that hydra. No warning, no plan, no return."

"Yeah, but…yeah. Sorry."

"It's not your fault. Heck, I don't think I can blame the Fates for this one. It's just our life, you know? The life of demigods, gods, and anyone else caught up in this realm of magic and such. I guess I've been holding out as long as I could. Dad introduced me to all the gods and such, all the craziness my demigod life involved, but I chose to stay in my normal life as long as possible. He had offered me to stay in the Underworld with him, be taught how to use my powers by the best, be his second in command, not a bad place he has, by the way, but I respectfully turned it down. Maybe it was because of the daunting demands I'd face, working with ghosts and such every day even though I was only twelve, but maybe it was also that I wasn't ready to let go of the innocence of my childhood, not ready to be dragged into all this yet. Dad said I needed to accept the fate of a demigod, and I thought I had, but maybe…not as much as I thought."

"It's…just the way of the universe, right? Even the Fates can't change that. At least, not in an instant. That's why you demigods are so powerful. Every god is limited in some way, "crafted for a single purpose and granted finite power to that end," if you will. For example, it's not like Demeter can go out and control the sun or water just because plants need the two in order to grow, that's not how the gods work, and they can't bend their abilities to extend farther than a certain domain. " _With men it is not so. Men dream, aspire, and through indomitable force of will achieve the impossible. Your power is beyond measure." Humans aren't strong, fast, they break easily both mentally and physically, but in return for not being as powerful as the gods, you can be creative, stretch barriers farther than ever thought possible to the point of breaking them, and as demigods, you put the power of a god and the flexibility of a human together to make a deadly combo. I question why more of the gods don't see your value."_

_"_ _They're prideful and can't see beyond the initial impression of humans. Not all humans are able to breech barriers and such since we're all different. Judge a book by its cover, why don't ya?"_

_"_ _True."_

"Mother!" Piper suddenly yelled angrily and I jumped to realize she was awake, but also wearing a turquoise dress with black leggings and black leather boots. She had on a silver charm bracelet, and the snowboarding jacket she'd lost at her claiming that went surprisingly well with the outfit. She pulled out her dagger, Katoptris, I believe she called it (once wielded by Helen of Troy), and saw that she'd gotten her hair done too. Her shout had caused not only me to jump, but apparently the others as well. Jason bumped the table with his knees, and that was enough to get the others awake too.

"What?!" Hedge demanded. "Fight?! Who?! Where?!"

"Falling!" Leo shouted, grabbing the table. "No - not falling. Where are we?"

"What happened?" Emily asked. "Where's Audrey?" I looked around to see that she wasn't anywhere in sight, but then suddenly a bunch of water that had been spilled on a seat shifted (making everyone lean/jump away from it) to form a shape on the seat resembling a person before it turned into Audrey, who jolted forward.

"Drowning! Huh? What's happening?" Wait, she could transform herself into water? That was nearly as awesome as shadow traveling! Nearly. Maybe that time staying in Camp Half-Blood between our next quest might be useful in testing out all these cool powers we've been unlocking.

"I think we're good, Audrey," Emily said. Audrey sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"Great, so where are we?"

"What are you wearing?" Jason asked, and we all looked to see him staring at Piper in her new outfit.

"It's nothing," She said. "It's my…it's nothing." Leo grinned.

"Aphrodite strikes again, huh? You're gonna be the best-dressed warrior in tow, beauty queen."

"Leo, have you looked at yourself recently?" Audrey asked.

"What…? Oh." All of us had been given a new makeover of sorts. Leo was wearing pinstriped pants, black leather shoes, a white collarless shirt with suspenders, and his tool belt, Ray-Ban sunglasses, and a porkpie hat.

"God, Leo," Piper said, clearly trying to suppress a laugh. "I think my dad wore that to his last premiere, minus the tool belt."

"Hey, shut up!"

"I think he looks good," Hedge said. "Of course, I look even better." In reality, the satyr was a pastel nightmare. Aphrodite had apparently found him best in a baggy canary yellow zoot suit with two-tone shoes that fit over his hooves. He had a matching yellow broad-brimmed hat, a rose-colored shirt, a baby blue tie, and a blue carnation in his lapel, which Hedge sniffed and then promptly ate. It could've been better, but then again, it could've been worse.

"At least your mom overlooked me," Jason said. Technically, she had changed a few things. He was dressed simply in jeans a clean purple T-shirt, like he had worn when we'd first met him, new track shoes, and his hair was newly trimmed. Audrey and Emily seemed to have been transferred back to their normal outfits, with Emily in a fancy yet casual yellow sleeveless shirt with small, pink and blue flowers decorating it, jeans, and light brown/grey boots, and Audrey in a black T-shirt with some colored paint splatter on the front, along with her blue jacket that she always wore, jeans, and tennis shoes. A little Aphrodite flare, but not overdoing it. I seemed to be unmarred, as I was still in my normal outfit, jeans, plain back T-shirt, tennis shoes, my army green jacket, along with my weapons all still on me. Zy was in a very similar outfit, same color jacket, jeans (woman's not men's obviously), combat boots, and a T-shirt with a white and blue swirled pattern all across it, and golden accents. Man, our group had a real thing for jeans…

"Anyway," Piper said. "How did we get here?"

"Oh, that would be Mellie," Hedge said, chewing happily on his carnation. "Those winds shot us halfway across the country-"

"Only about a third or fourth, Hedge," Zy corrected.

"We would've had a rough impact-"

"But none of us would've gotten hurt since I was protecting us."

"-but Mellie's last gift, a nice soft breeze, cushioned our fall," Hedge finally finished.

"And she got fired for us," Leo said. "Man, we suck."

"Ah, she'll be fine. Besides, she couldn't help herself. I've got that effect on nymphs. I'll send her a message when we're through with this quest and help her figure something out. That is one aura I could settle down with and raise a herd of baby goats."

"I'm going to be sick," Piper said.

"TMI, Coach," I agreed.

"So, who wants coffee?" Zy asked.

"Coffee!" Hedge's grin was stained blue from the flower. "I love coffee!"

"Um, but money?" Jason asked. "Our packs?" I looked down to find our bags, even my gold one, were returned to us, everything still inside, and mine repacked with ambrosia, nectar, and an extra change of clothes.

"I've got the money covered," Zy said. "I can work magic with weapons  _and_  money, people."

"Awesome," I said. "So we can get anything we want?"

"Money is irrelevant. Besides, you all could use some grub before the impending battle."

"Waitress!" Hedge called. "Six double espressos, and what ever these guys want. Put it on the girl's tab."

Once we'd all gotten some food Zy explained our location. We had only three more hours until Enceladus's deadline, but at least we didn't have to wonder where Mount Diablo was. We could see it in the horizon, right at the end of the street. After the Rockies, Mount Diablo looked puny, and it wasn't even covered in snow. It seemed downright peaceful, its golden creases marbled with gray-green trees, but we were warned not to be fooled by appearance. Audrey, Emily, and I have apparently all faced a few cases of monsters in disguise, and we were used to accepting that anything and everything can be a deception.

Leo pulled something out of his pocket - the old crayon drawing Aeolus had given him. Aphrodite must've thought it was important if she'd magically transferred it to his new outfit. I checked my pocket to find that my picture was still there, but I didn't take it out. I would need to find a safer way to carry it around if I was going to be going around fighting monsters all day and such.

"What's that?" Piper asked, and Leo folded his picture up gingerly, putting it away again.

"Nothing. You don't wanna see my kindergarten artwork.

"It's more than that," Jason guessed. "Aeolus said it was the key to our success." Leo shook his head.

"Not today. He was talking about…later."

"How can you be sure?" Emily asked.

"Everything is important," Zy said. "I don't see his picture coming in handy on this quest, but in the future, any little thing we have is important. Now, what's our plan here?"

"You don't have a plan?" I asked.

"I wish to confide with everyone before I start marching in and giving orders. This isn't my quest to lead, you know." Coach Hedge belched. He'd already had three espressos, a plate of doughnuts, two napkins and another flower from the vase on the table. He would've eaten the silverware too, had Emily and Piper not stopped him, the latter slapping his hand and the former convincing him it was rude.

"Climb the mountain. Kill everything except Piper's dad. Leave."

"Brilliant planning skills, General Eisenhower," Zy muttered.

"Hey, I'm just saying!"

"Guys, there's more you need to know," Piper said. She explained how she'd figured out in her dreams that Gaea was their enemy.

"I had a similar dream," I said. "Gaea, or Gaia, if you prefer. Olympian goddess of the earth or something."

"Gaea?" Leo asked, shaking his head. "Isn't that Mother Nature? She's supposed to have, like, flowers in her hair and birds singing around her and deer and rabbits doing her laundry."

"I think that's Snow White you're thinking of, Leo," Audrey said.

"Okay, but-"

"Listen, cupcake," Hedge dabbed the espresso out of his goatee. "Piper's talking about some serious stuff here. Gaea's no softie. I'm not even sure  _I_  could take her." Leo whistled.

"Really?"

"Is that so?" Zy asked, with definite sarcasm in her voice and a deadpan face, but apparently Coach missed it as he continued.

"This earth lady - she and her old man the sky were nasty customers."

"Ouranos," Piper said, instinctively looking at the sky as though it was looking at her.

"Right. So Ouranos, he's not the dad of the eon. He throws his first kids, the Cyclopes, into Tartarus. That makes Gaea mad, but she bides her time. Then they have another set of kids, the twelve Titans, and Gaea is afraid they'll get thrown into the prison too. So she goes up to her son Kronos-"

"The big, bag dude they defeated last summer," Leo said.

"Right. And Gaea's the one who gives him the scythe, and tells him, "Hey, why don't you call your dad down here? And while he's distracted talking to me, you can cut him to pieces. Then you can take over the world. Wouldn't that be great?" So, he agrees."

"Wonderful family," Zy commented sarcastically with the same tone as before. I had to agree. I couldn't tell who was more messed up, the kid willing to kill his dad just for power, or the mom that convinced her son to do it.

"Definitely not Snow White," Piper decided.

"Nah, Kronos was a bad guy," Hedge said. "But Gaea is literally the  _mother_  of all bad guys. She's so old and powerful, so  _huge_ , that it's hard for her to be fully conscious. Most of the time she sleeps, and that's the way we like her - snoring."

"But she talked to me," Leo said. "How can she be asleep?" He brushed crumbs off his canary yellow lapel. He was on his sixth espresso now, and his pupils were as big as quarters.

"Even in her sleep, a part of her consciousness is still active - dreaming, keeping watch, doing little things like causing volcanoes to explode and monsters to rise. Even now, she's not fully awake, and believe me, you don't want to see her fully awake."

"But she  _is_  getting more powerful," Audrey said. "She's causing monsters to reform faster, the giants to rise, and if their king comes back, this Porcupine guy-"

"Porphyrion," Zy corrected.

"He'll raise and army to destroy the gods," Jason finished. "Starting with Hera. It'll be another war, and Gaea will wake up fully."

"Which is why it's a good idea for us to stay off the ground," Hedge said. Leo looked warily at Mount Diablo.

"So…climbing a mountain. That would be bad."

"Guys, I can't ask you to do this," Piper said. "This is too dangerous."

"You kidding?" Hedge belched and showed them his blue carnation smile. "Who's ready to beat stuff up?"

"It may be dangerous, Piper, but everything in this life is," I said. "If we ran every time something was dangerous, we'd be out of the job."

"Besides," Zy said standing. "I wouldn't mind beating a few things up myself."

"Then it's settled," Emily said, smiling and keeping spirits up. "Now, how are we getting up there again?"

"I have an idea," Zy said smiling, before she put her fingers in her mouth and let out a taxi-cab whistle, that surprisingly worked like it does in the movies. I gave her a "Really?" look and she just shrugged with a smile. "Hurry up, take what you want, and let's go save Piper's dad."


	25. Enceladus and the Earthborn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More apologies to those who like reading this. I am nearly at the end of all these essays, tests and such that keep getting in the way of this writing. I have big plans for the story, but life still exists (sadly). Anyway, enjoy and know I'm working really hard to make this story enjoyable to anyone who reads.

First Person: Audrey

I was a little unhappy to find Zy didn't have some kind of personal godly chuffer with an awesome all-terrain magic vehicle. She literally just summoned a normal taxi driver and bribed him to take us to Mount Diablo. He couldn't even take us all the way to the top. The cab made a lurching, grinding sound as it climbed the mountain road, and halfway up, we found the ranger's station closed, a chain blocking the way.

"Far as I can go," The cabbie said. "You sure about this? Gonna be a long walk back, and my car's acting funny, so I can't wait for you."

"We're sure," Zy said smiling. "We're tough, and we have supplies. Hoping for a good hike. Now, no questioning anything about us. We're just another group of hikers, nothing more, right?"

"Right, ma'am." I guess she was just as convincing as an Aphrodite charmer, and she wasn't ashamed of it either. It seemed Emily and Piper were reluctant to use their charm speak to influence someone after what happened at Medea's department store, and I could understand. Hard to get over the moral aspect of charming someone into something when we've seen how terrible the power can be used. But they're using their power for good, and that's all that matters.

My own powers surprised me. After I'd gotten knocked out before waking up at the café, I was having a dream about being underwater, not something new, but unlike normal dreams, I couldn't breathe. I was still able to hold my breath for a long time, but I wasn't able to breathe in when I found myself needing oxygen again. I could hold my breath for a very long time, and have never really felt the sensation when you're dying for air and frantically have to swim to the surface. It was weird, in my dream. I feel the water around me, but then again, I couldn't feel anything  _but_  the water, meaning I couldn't feel my own body. I began to panic when I wasn't able to breath and felt the need to, but then my body began to come back, and I jolted awake and felt my limbs again. Veon told me I'd turned to water, like literally, a  _puddle_  of water, before the water reformed into my shape and then fully transformed into me when I woke up. A cool power, I'll admit. I cannot  _wait_  to learn how to use that power properly.

Once we'd gotten out of the cab, I couldn't tell if I felt safer or if I felt even more uneasy. The wheels of the cab were sinking into the road like it was made of quicksand. Not fast, but enough to make the driver think he had a transmission problem or a bad axel, but with our enemy apparently the earth itself, I knew that it was a lot worse. The road was hard-packed dirt, and there was no reason it should have been soft, yet most of us were having to lift our feet every few seconds to avoid sinking in. I couldn't tell if this Gaea was trying to swallow us before we got to our destination but was still too weak to do it quickly, or if the goddess was just messing with us.

"Keep the change, and get out of here quickly," Zy said, paying the cabbie. She seemed to pull money out of thin air, which was weird considering all the years I've known Lucy she's literally never bought things too extravagant and rarely ever spoiled herself. The cabbie didn't argue with her and fled the scene quickly. The view from the mountain was pretty amazing. The whole inland valley around Mount Diablo was a patchwork of towns - grids of tree-lined street and nice middle-class suburbs, shops and schools. All these normal people living normal lives. How long had it been since I knew a normal life? I probably never did. I probably never would.

"That's Concord," Jason said, pointing to the north. "Walnut Creek below us. To the south Danville, past those hills. And that way…" He pointed west, where a ridge of golden hills held back a layer of fog, like the rim of a bowl. "That's the Berkeley Hills. The East Bay. Past that, San Francisco."

"How do you know the place this well?" I asked. "Have you been here before?"

"Jason?" Piper asked, touching his arm. "You remember something?"

"Yes…no." He gave her an anguished look. "It just…seems important."

"That's Titan land," Hedge said, nodding towards the west. "Bad place, Jason. Trust me, this is as close to Frisco as we wanna get." But Jason looked towards the foggy basin with a kind of longing, as though he was a lost animal that had found its way home. Maybe his home was around here somewhere, if he knew the place so well. Maybe it was unlikely, with the Titan's base being here and all, but maybe the place he was from was hidden there  _before_  the whole Titan thing last summer, therefore they were hidden throughout the war and could still be there, their base hidden better than ever now that people didn't expect  _any_  demigods to be housed there. Logical. Still, with all the evil here we'd been told about, it also makes since considering we've assessed Jason's from some place with a rivalry against Camp Half-Blood. Hopefully Jason wasn't some Titan in disguise. Either way, he was our friend now, right? Hopefully he'd stay that way even after he got his memories.

"Guys, let's keep moving," Leo said, and we all looked the see the earth was still trying to swallow us.

"Gaea seems to be stronger here," Zy said. Hedge grumbled before popping his hooves free from his shoes, handing them to Leo.

"Keep those for me, Valdez, they're nice." Leo snorted.

"Yes, sir, Coach. Would you like them polished?"

"That varsity thinking, Valdez. But first, We'd better hike up this mountain while we still can."

"How do we know where the giant is?" Piper asked.

"See that?" Zy asked, pointing toward the peak. Drifting across the summit was a plume of smoke. From a distance, it looked like a cloud, but it definitely wasn't. Something was burning.

"Smoke equals fire," Veon said. "Better hurry." That was a lot easier said than done. I wasn't really out of shape, but then again, I wasn't exactly an athlete either. Maybe it would've been fine had the earth not been trying to eat us the entire way. It was like walking on flypaper. I'd walked in the mud before, and I could usually power through it, but it was a whole different situation when the earth is  _trying_  to cling to you and make you sink down, gravity helping it out. In no time, most of us were panting and getting into that "numb to the fatigue" state, rolling up our sleeves even though the wind was cold and sharp.

When we neared the crest of the mountain, we were all the sweatiest and dirties heroes ever (minus Zy who had magic on her side and Coach who was half goat and practically made for climbing mountains). When we did reach the summit, we immediately had to focus. Jason pulled Piper, Leo and Hedge behind a wall of rock, while Zy pulled me, Veon and Emily behind it but a bit farther away, still in sight of each other, but also split up in case of trouble, which there was  _defiantly_  going to be with our luck. Not to mention we were running to fight a giant when two of us hadn't fought a monster until a few days ago, one of us had amnesia, one of us was a psycho who had no strategic cares whatsoever, and three of us who are just learning our powers and haven't fought anything bigger or smarter than a hydra, and even  _that_  we struggled against. Now we were most likely going to try and take on a beast that even the gods could struggle to fight against. Even with a kind-of goddess on our side, I'd seen that she does have her limits when it comes to looking out for all of us and being in a human host. Here's hoping this worked out.

"I don't want to get my outfit dirty," Hedge complained.

"Shhh!" Piper scolded. Reluctantly, the satyr knelt. Just over the ridge we were hiding behind, in the shadow of the mountain's final crest, was a forested depression about the size of a football field, where the giant Enceladus had set up camp. Trees had been cut down to make a towering purple bonfire, the outer rim of the clearing littered with extra logs and construction equipment - including an earthmover; a big crane thing with rotating blades at the end like an electric shaver (must've been used to cut down the trees), and a long metal column with an ax blade, like a sideways guillotine - a hydraulic ax, I guess. I don't know why a big giant needed construction equipment, not just because he should be able to bring down trees with his bare hands, but also because he couldn't possibly fit in the driver's seat.

Okay, now the nerves set in. I wasn't one to get nervous about a choir concert beforehand. My stomach usually twisted only once we were on stage and there was no turning back. That was how I felt now. The giant was there, it was real, and we couldn't turn back now. He was thirty feet tall, easily as tall as the treetops. He must've been able to see us behind the ridge, but he was intent on the weird purple bonfire, circling it and chanting under his breath. From the waist up the giant appeared to be humanoid, his muscular chest clad in bronze armor, decorated with flame designs. His arms were completely ripped, each of his biceps taller than even Veon, and he was the tallest of our group (barely beating Jason by like half an inch). His skin was bronze but sooty with ash, and his face was crudely shaped, like a half-finished clay figure, but his eyes glowed white and his hair was matted in shaggy dreadlocks down to his shoulders, braided with bones. From the waist down, he was even more terrifying. His legs were scaly green, with claws instead of feet - like the forelegs of a dragon. In his hand Enceladus held a spear the size of a flagpole. Every so often he dipped its tip in the fire, turning the metal molten red.

"Okay, here's the plan," Hedge began.

"You are not charging in alone!" Leo interrupted.

"Aw, c'mon." I couldn't really blame Hedge for wanting to just charge in. It wasn't exactly easy to come up with a plan with my mind basically going to fight or flight mode. It was like when your teacher give you one of those "you won't know what you're talking about until the test" speaking quizzes in Spanish class. You can't prepare, and though you have things planned out in your head, the possibilities of what you're going to say are too great and you totally freeze up once you've been told what you have to talk about. Or is that just me?

I tried to shove down the nerves like I did during a concert, but it's a lot easier when you're distracting yourself by singing things on auto-pilot. Okay, so we knew literally nothing about our enemy except his name and what he looked like, we needed to fight him while also saving Piper's dad, and we didn't know if the giant had any tricks up his sleeve. Maybe we send half the group, Jason's half since they were the expected people on the quest, and they decide whether to make Piper play innocent and get the whole fight started (because there was no avoiding a fight, let's be honest) and then we come out once the giant's pulled his trump card. Wasn't trying to throw the others to the wolves, honestly, but it was a good plan to keep half the group back and let the other half make the giant put all his cards on the table. Once we knew he had nothing left to hide and no more tricks up his sleeve, then we could assess the situation and handling things from there, right?

"Look," Emily said, nodding towards the giant again. Just visible on the other side of the bonfire was a man tied to a post. His head slumped like he was unconscious, so I couldn't see his face, but that had to be Piper's dad. Who else could it be? If only this were a movie and everything was guaranteed to work out in the end, no matter how cheesy the fight turned for us to win. Sadly, this wasn't a movie, and Tristan McLean was half dead and about to be eaten by a real live giant, and his saviors were a bunch of ill-experienced, fashionable, teenaged demigods, (one sort-of goddess) and a megalomaniac goat man.

"Okay, so there's eight of us and one of him," Hedge whispered urgently.

"Did you forget the fact that he's thirty feet tall and only one of us has any idea how to fight?" Leo asked.

"Okay, so the rest of us distract him and Piper sneaks around to free her dad." Everyone looked to Jason, both groups included.

"What? I'm not the leader," Jason said.

"Yes, you kinda are, sweetheart," Zy said. "Your quest, you're rules." Everyone nodded, a silent agreement having fallen upon them all long before now. Jason sighed.

"I hate to say it, but Hedge is right. A distraction is Piper's best chance. But she doesn't go alone. At least Piper and one other person go after her dad in case things go wrong."

"Zy is the most powerful and can protect her," Veon reasoned.

"But I'd rather have her keeping the giant's attention  _because_  she's the most powerful. Better for her to protect the people who are actually being targeted by the giant than someone who hopefully won't be. In fact, I want the more combat ready people to be on the distraction team; people with the most experience and offensive/evasive abilities. Emily, do you think you can go with Piper to get her dad? I mean, no offense, but…"

"Sure," She said. "If Piper and I get caught, two charmers might be able to get him to stand down or hesitate, at least for the few seconds you guys could use to come up with another plan and attack."

"Let's boogie, before I come back to my senses," Leo said, and I saw him looking towards the equipment. I knew the moment I saw those that Leo were be able to utilize them. I couldn't tell whether I was excited about this or terrified (a combination of both, really) but I knew Leo was right. Best to get started before we all realized we were about to charge in against a giant we barely knew anything about with little plans of safeguards in case something went wrong. Oh well. Improvisation it is. Works on most of my tests at school. Why not here? Of course this was pass/fail, and getting a B would basically result in our deaths…Yeah, I should probably stop thinking right now before I jinxed us.

Of course, it was too late, and the plan went wrong almost immediately. Piper and Emily scrambled along the ridge, trying to keep their heads down, while the rest of us walked straight into the clearing. As we got closer to the giant, I tried to look for places that might be sensitive to a strike. Wasn't easy to concentrate with my nerves preventing me from processing information, but I defaulted to spraying water in his eyes if I panicked. Jason summoned his golden lance, brandishing it over his head.

"Giant! We are pathetic ants! Don't kill us!" Surprising how he could sound so confident when also saying something so cheesy, it belonged in a bad-ly acted Shakespeare play. Enceladus stopped chanting at the flames, turning towards us before grinning, revealing fangs like a saber-toothed tiger.

"Well, what a nice surprise," He rumbled. I saw Leo gripping some windup gadget that he'd made on the way up the mountain, since he seemed to fiddle with things in his hands while he was worried or trying to pass time, and stepped sideways, edging his way towards the bulldozer.

"Let the movie star go, you big cupcake!" Hedge shouted. "Or I'm gonna plant my hoof right up your-!"

"Coach, shut up," Jason ordered. Enceladus roared with laughter.

"I've forgotten how funny satyrs are," He said. "When we rule the world, I think I'll keep your kind around. You can entertain me while I eat all the other mortals."

"Is that a compliment?" Hedge asked, frowning at me. "I don't think that was a compliment." Enceladus opened his mouth wide and his teeth began to glow.

"Scatter!" Zy shouted, and none of us needed the order to do so as Jason and Hedge dove to the left while Veon and I dove to the right, Leo slipping behind the bulldozer, before the giant blew fire - a furnace blast so hot even Festus would be jealous.

"Well, I guess we're going, huh?" I asked.

"No kidding," Veon said, quickly standing and pulling me to my feet. Zy was in front of the giant, countering it's inferno with a blast of blue energy, ice cold with snowflakes and all that looked like it came straight out of Frozen, just on a grander scale. I drew my dagger, choosing my weapon of choice despite its size against a formidable opponent. Veon drew his sword while the two of us charged, Jason doing the same on the other side. Hedge ripped off his canary yellow jacket, which was now on fire, and bleated angrily.

"I  _liked_  that outfit!" Then he raised his club and charged too. Before any of us could get very far, Enceladus slammed his spear against the ground, causing the entire mountain to shake, all of us being knocked off our feet and trying to stop our heads from banging around in our skulls. I knew that I needed to remain a moving target, so despite not having fully gather my bearings, I rolled to my feet and moved to the right, knocking into Veon who had the same thought, and we balanced on each other while trying to stay on the run. When my vision began to clear, I saw Jason was staggering to his feet, but Coach Hedge had been knocked out cold, having fallen forward and hit his head on a log.

"I see you, Piper McLean!" Enceladus bellowed. He turned and blew fire at a line of bushes, Piper and Emily quickly diving into the clearing, flushed out, the underbrush burning behind them. Enceladus laughed. I should've expected him to know of Piper and Emily despite not seeing them. The rest of us were hardly a distraction, after all.

"That's right, son of Hephaestus," The giant said, having seen the realization in Leo's face. "I didn't expect you all to stay alive this long, but it doesn't matter. By bringing you here, Piper McLean has sealed the deal. If she betrays you, I'm as good as my word. She can take her father and leave. What do I care for a movie star, anyway?"

"Even a strong hearted human can be swayed by a hostage situation," Veon muttered. I could now see Piper's dad more clearly now. He wore a ragged dress shirt and turn slacks, his feet bare and caked with mud. He didn't seem to be completely unconscious, because he lifted his head and groaned. I'd seen his face advertised on movies (never watched them because I wasn't into the whole fan girl thing) but I knew his face well enough to know that the nasty cut down the side of his face and his thin and sickly appearance was not normal, and not heroic at all.

"Dad!" Piper called. Her father blinked, trying to focus.

"Pipes…? Where…?"

"Please, trying and stay calm, Mr. McLean!" Emily shouted, though her words didn't seem to be infused with any influence, maybe because she was too scared to be confident and convincing, or because there was literally no convincing way to say "stay calm" when you woke up kidnapped by a giant, about to be eaten while your daughter fought for your life.

"Let him go!" Piper shouted, drawing her dagger and facing the giant.

"Of course, dear," The giant rumbled. "Swear your loyalty to me, and we have no problem. Only these others must die."

"He'll kill you!" Leo shouted. "Don't trust him!"

"Oh, come now. You know I was born to fight Athena herself? Mother Gaea made each of us giants with a specific purpose, designed to fight and destroy a particular god. I was Athena's nemesis, the  _anti_ -Athena, you might say. Compared to some of my brethren, I am small, but I am clever, and I keep my bargain with you, Piper McLean. It's all part of my plan!" He sounded like one of those cheesy evil guys on T.V. when he said the last part, especially when the classic being interrupted by a punch occurred. Zy jumped forward and gave him a right hook with the strength of a goddess behind it, and didn't let up as she hovered in front of his face and punched him again with her left fist. The giant ended up staggering back, but she kept on him, increasing the rate of her punches before ending with a kick, sending his head up and back before she dropped to the ground.

"We're gonna need something stronger than a punch," She muttered. "We can handle it, for just this fight, right? If we're gonna help out we might as well…Well I know, but…I know." Enceladus recovered while she was talking (to herself?) and then roared, his call echoing down the valley and was probably heard all the way to San Francisco. A the edge of the woods, half a dozen ogre-like creatures rose up, and I  _know_  they couldn't have been hiding; they'd rising straight out of the earth. They shuffled forward, small compared to Enceladus at only about seven feet tall. Each one of them had six arms - one pair in the regular spot, then an extra pair sprouting out the top of their shoulders, and another set shooting from the sides of their rib cages. They wore only ragged leather loincloths, and even across the clearing I could smell them. Six guys who never bathed with six armpits each. Ugh, if there was any more incentive to destroy those guys, it was so we wouldn't have to deal with that stench.

"What are those?" Veon asked, looking more annoyed at the stench than afraid of them. Trust him to get his priorities straight.

"Gegenees," Zy said.

"English?" Leo requested.

"The Earthborn. Six-armed giants who fought Jason - the first, that is. Used to live in Greece called Bear Mountain, I think."

"Yes, Mount Diablo is much nicer!" Enceladus said. "They are lesser children of Mother Earth, but they serve their purpose. They're good with construction equipment-"

"Vroom, vroom!" One of the Earthborn bellowed, and the others took up the chant, each moving their six hands as though driving a car, as if it were some kind of weird religious ritual. "Vroom, vroom!"

"Uh, that's…new," Zy said. "Last time  _I_  met the Earthborn, their saying was just a grunt."

"Yes, thank you, boys," Enceladus said. "They also have a score to settle with heroes. Especially someone named Jason."

"Yay-son!" The Earthborn screamed. They all picked up clumps of earth, which solidified in their hands, turning to nasty pointed stones. "Where Yay-son? Kill Yay-son!"

"Huh, their grammar has improved dramatically," Zy said. "Man, I'm getting old…" Enceladus smiled.

"You see, Piper, you have a choice. Save your father, or ah,  _try_  to save your friends and face certain death." Emily put her hand on Piper's shoulder and nodded to her. Piper nodded back, her face set and determined, before she stepped forward, her eyes blazing with such rage that even the Earthborn backed away. She radiated with power and beauty, but it that had nothing to do with her clothes or her makeup.

"You will not take the people I love, none of them!" She declared. Her words basically rippled across the clearing, and I felt it shudder past me, the sensation of both her determination and threat washing over me. Even some of the Earthborn began to retreat.

"Okay, okay, sorry," They muttered like they were actors being scolded for not getting a scene correct.

"Stand your ground, fools!" Enceladus bellowed. He snarled at Piper. "This is why we wanted you alive, my dear. You could have been so useful to us. But as you wish. Earthborn! I will show you Jason!" Just great. But Jason seemed to be able to handle himself, especially with the rest of us backing him up. We were small compared to Enceladus, but that meant we might be able to dodge him while dealing with the Earthborn. We could improvise with the giant if we could hold out long enough. But instead of pointing to Jason, Enceladus pointed to the other side of the bonfire, where Tristan McLean hung helpless and half conscious.

"There is Jason," Enceladus said with pleasure. "Tear him apart!"


	26. Gods and Mortals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope readers enjoy a chapter from Lucy's perspective as her and Zyanya's mysteries grow ever deeper. (Endless amounts of apologies for the delay in chapters for anyone who likes the story, school sucks. I may be considered fast compared to other writers, but to me this is painfully slow with my lack of time to write). Please review!

First Person: Lucy

" ** _How are we gonna do this?_** " I asked Zyanya mentally.

" _We need to use the power I chose you for!_ " The goddess shouted to me. The others instantly looked to each other and knew a game plan. Jason, Veon and Audrey charged to Enceladus, Emily and Piper went for Piper's dad, while Leo dashed for the tree harvester, which stood between Mr. McLean and the Earthborn.

" ** _You know we can't push it! Do you have any concern for our wellbeing?!_** " An image of the goddess appeared in front of me, who was really just me but I seemed to be older, and in a pure white version of my outfit, my features sharpened from the goddess' touch at its finest. She could only be seen by me because she was just a mental image the goddess thought was useful to talk to me with. Zyanya made sure to make my face look slightly different than the original, but I guess talking to myself was better than staring at her true form constantly.

" _I understand, but if your body cannot be enhanced so much that I cannot utilize it properly, I will leave and find a proper host instead!_ "

" ** _I can't risk the others finding out. They'll only worry about me and most likely limit the use of my powers out of concern. They don't understand things like I do._** "

" _I know, but I can only do so much to assist you if you limit me such. A giant can only be defeated by a god and a human working together, but that means you and I must both have some influence and control for my power to be viable to kill Enceladus._ " In the background, Leo had reached the tree harvester and swung the crane arm through the bonfire, toppling burning logs onto the Earthborn and spraying sparks everywhere, two of the Earthborn going down under the fiery avalanche and melting back into the earth. Piper and Emily were cutting Piper's dad free, while Veon, Jason and Audrey were running around the giant, managing to avoid its massive spear and blasts of fire to try and earn a strike here and there.

" ** _Fine, but we need to be careful they don't find out, all right? After what happened protecting the others from the wind blast at Aeolus's, we had to resort to half a dose! Veon nearly found out about it, too, with you not putting the syringe in our pocket before he caught it. Something so simple shouldn't have required any dose in the first place._** "

" _I played it off well enough, didn't I? Had a rushed to hide they syringe, he would've gotten curious and definitely know something was up._ " In the back of my mind, I knew she had a point. She knew it too, but luckily she wasn't the person who shoved it in your face and merely moved on. " _Now, to the more important issue. I need you to work with me to summon our power._ " Leo had destroyed another of the Earthborn, but they retaliated, throwing large, hard rocks at the driver's seat and forcing Leo out just before the hailstorm made the harvester look like a crushed soda can, sinking in the mud. Then, the bulldozer roared to life, the little gadget Leo had made previous and stuck on the thing while Enceladus was distracted by Piper and Emily working.

" ** _Right, let's do this. But no pushing it._** "

" _That depends on you. You_ are  _the one I'm handing the controls to here._ "

" ** _Well, don't blame me if I don't know how much power I can take at a time._** "

" _But I do. We work together. Now let's move. Practice is good for us, anyway._ " Piper cut her dad free and Emily helped her lift him and start moving him. The Earthborn launched another volley of stones, but the dozer swiveled in the mud, skidding to intercept, and most of the rocks slammed into its shovel. The force was so great that it pushed the dozer back, and Emily stood to block any ricochets from reaching Piper or her dad with her invincibility.

I ran forward, feeling the power of the goddess flooding through every cell of my body, every inch of my soul. It was both refreshing and scary, as the power fought me for freedom, but Zyanya kept it in check to amounts that I could handle, her mental image disappearing as we went to work. I began to glow white as her powers merged with mine, and I ran to the Earthborn to blast it in the face point blank with a beam of energy coming out of the palm of my hand. It melted down into clay, before I turned and repeated the process to the second of three. The blasts were high power, but also high cost as I felt a wave of fatigue. Just two weaklings and I'm already feeling it.

" ** _I need more._** "

" ** _Are you sure you can handle it?_** " The goddess asked, her voice now in my head.

" ** _Give it to me a little faster and I'll make sure to release any I can't contain!_** "

"Hey, stupid!" Leo shouted, throwing his screwdriver at the final Earthborn. It didn't kill the thing, but it certainly got its attention, the screwdriver sinking deep into the Earthborn's forehead like it was made of Play-Doh. The Earthborn yelped in pain and halted from its march to Piper and Emily, pulling out the screwdriver and turning to Leo before realizing its allies were gone and growling, thinking Leo had been the cause. The last ogre seemed to be the biggest and nastiest of the bunch, and now it was trained on Leo.

"You die! Friend of Yay-son dies!" The ogre scooped up handfuls of dirt which immediately hardened into rock cannonballs.

" ** _Now, Zyanya!_** "

" ** _Give me a second or you'll be flooded with too much at once!_** "

" ** _We shouldn't be having these problems after four years!_** "

" ** _Let me remind you that there hasn't been much training involved within those past years. A monster here and there, but nothing requiring too much skill. We need to work together now and adjust to it, and that means both of us. We are limited right now with our lack of experience working together. You cannot demand something of me and then turn around on it! Do you want me to be subtle, or do you want me to release it all?!_** "

" ** _ **I need a spot in between that!**_ "**

" ** _Well only training will help us find that spot where you have the power you need without it overwhelming you! I've spent decades within hosts before, most much older than you! You are an inexperienced child and these things don't come like magic!_** " I knew it would take time for us to adjust working together, and we'd done well enough for the subtle things, but once we were getting into real battles with bigger threats, we were going to have to up our game. We needed to learn more about each other's fighting style, our strengths, habits, limits and preferences. That wouldn't happen instantly, no matter how much power we had.

"Hephaestus!" Leo shouted, bursting into flames and charging in barehanded. Idiot! We'd been bickering when we needed to help Leo, now! Some goddess we were. Then, he was saved when Piper and Emily each slashed down the Earthborn, cutting off its arms on either side with their daggers. Six arms dropped to the ground, boulders rolling out of their useless hands, and the Earthborn looked down, very surprised.

"Arms go bye-bye." Then he melted into the ground.

"Seriously, those things are getting a vocabulary _,_ " Zyanya made me say it out loud. Piper and Emily stood there, breathing hard, their daggers covered in clay, and both looked angry, as if daring the Earthborn to respawn so they could shank him again. Hestia would never be able to attack someone or be so angry, it was just against her nature of kindness and of a warm home-like feeling. But her daughter was a half-blood, and that human in her allowed her to reach beyond her mother's limits. The combination of a god and a mortal would allow power beyond any of the gods. I needed to prove that I was the right host to a god as powerful as Zyanya, that I could take her already powerful abilities and take them to heights she'd never seen in any of her previous hosts.

"Nobody hurts my friends," Piper declared. "Come on!" We turned to join the others.

" ** _Let's try this again,_** " I said. Zyanya's power flowed through me again, and it felt like a punch in the chest, but I held my ground. The others had managed to strike a few times, golden ichor, the blood of immortals, tricking down the legs, arms and chest of the giant, but the wounds weren't big, and the others were becoming predictable. The ground was clinging to their feet limiting mobility as the earth became stronger, and Enceladus was bread to fight Athena, a wise and smart fighter, so naturally he had to be able to combat any plans the others had. Not that Veon or Audrey were tacticians, and even though Jason was acting on instinct from his buried memories, he still wasn't anything compared to a giant, nearly struck numerous times, the giant faster than his size would assume. Their attacks seemed only to annoying and enraging the giant.

"I'm not some minor monster," Enceladus bellowed. "I am a giant, born to destroy gods! Your little toothpicks can't kill me!" None of them wasted the energy to respond, working to keep moving as they fought the ground clinging them, the air full of smoke from Leo spreading the fire. The fire was stoked by the winds, the temperature approaching the heat of an oven. My stunt fighting off the giant's fire with ice had taken a lot out of me last time, but if Elsa from Frozen could do it, surely I could too, right?

I held out my arms, and spun like a dancer, focusing on my power to be ice-based and shooting it out around me. I turned to a rhythm, making sure I spread the ice and cold winds I was creating to spread evenly around the area, cooling the area and smothering all but the biggest flames of the fire, and even turning those to candle size. Then, I concentrated the blizzard to circle around the giant, closing in on him with the winds like a hurricane before it went  _into_  him, freezing him from the inside and out. It looked like Jason had been grazed on his shoulder and was retreating, his arm clearly numb, meaning it was my turn now to keep the giant distracted.

I summoned my pistols, figuring they were less energy consuming and more concentrating my power. I began firing while running up, keeping the giant distracted from Jason. Veon had used his sword as a step as he stabbed it into the giant's leg and used it to jump up onto the giant's arm. He summoned his lance and then ran up Enceladus's arm to strike him in the face, before running down his other arm, drawing his gun and firing at the giant as he retreated. Enceladus roared and swung his arms wildly, throwing Veon off, but I concentrated and then grabbed him with my telekinetics, catching him in midair and slowly dropping him to the ground. I focused and willed his sword to come to me before I passed it back to him.

"And where the hell have you been?" He asked, taking his sword back.

"Just working out the new body and fighting style," Zyanya said through me.

"Any problems?"

"Just the usual deciding of how to do things."

"Gods and their limits, eh?"

"We're working on it."

"So you two aren't like, merged into one or Lu's not sleeping?"

"No, our souls cannot meld. That kind of thing is rare, and very hard to get correct. I suppose there could be a  _bonding_  of two souls, maybe through two shadow travelers or some kind of talismans, but no proper and complete  _melding_. Besides, she can hear everything you're saying. I sleep on occasions, Ve, but I'm still awake during the normal hours of the day." It was still an odd sensation, having Zyanya talking through me but still being able to contribute my thoughts. She rarely ever spoke before this quest, and she deepened my voice to a more serious tone, with her ancient wisdom behind it. In return, my voice sounded higher compared to hers. There was a distinct difference, meaning we still had a way to go before we merged, found a middle ground between us and getting along so perfectly we were one.

"Uh, so who do I refer to you as?"

"Just call me Zyanya, but remember that I am Zyanya  _and_  Lucy. Do you really wish to go into this confusing and never ending equation right now?" I pointed to the fight, and he nodded.

"Right, right." Audrey was using the water in her bottle through hydrokinesis to strike from two sides at once, the snake of water striking like a blade and flying all around. Of course, that slowed Audrey in the slightest as she tried to multitask, and the small amount in her water bottle couldn't do much damage to a giant so big and powerful. Emily wasn't skilled with her dagger, but she was now in a battle mood and it was unlikely she could charm Enceladus now, so she ran over to Jason, who was at the edge of the clearing. She returned his javelin to him and checked out his arm. She wasn't a healer, but her invincibility would come in handy if Jason was attacked. I wasn't the leader of this quest, but I could still be a good help in commanding with Zyanya's knowledge and my creativeness. It was our job to help protect Jason's team, after all.

Enceladus was swatting at Audrey's water snake like it was a fly, and Audrey was currently the only one attacking. Enceladus was a smart giant, and instead of going for the rest of us, who he should be angry and for annoying him, he went for Jason as he was weakened. I looked around, assessing what we had. Leo was heading for the remaining equipment, now going for the hydraulic ax. That would get the giant's attention while Piper and Emily get Jason to safety. Then me and Veon would join Audrey in keeping the thing distracted.

"The mighty Jason Grace," Enceladus taunted. He stomped and Audrey was knocked off her feet, nearly stepped on, and she suddenly turned to water in her panic and surprise. An interesting power, to be sure, and I'd have to remember to try that one day. The water normally would've sunk into the ground, but Audrey stayed a puddle near Enceladus's foot, probably gathering her bearings and adjusting to the power. The puddle of water shifted, rolling across the ground. So she was learning to control it. Good to have her know her powers.

"Yes, we know about you, son of Jupiter. The one who led the assault on Mount Othrys; the one who single-handedly slew the Titan Krios and toppled the black throne." Jason paused, the names seeming to strike something within him, though he didn't know what. Jason had much notoriety, and a lost memory wasn't a good thing when practically everything is trying to kill you in full force.

"What are you talking about?" Jason asked. But he realized his pause made him vulnerable just as Enceladus blew fire at them. Emily pulled him out of harm's way just in time, barely avoiding Jason getting singed as his clothes smoked, and then she shoved him out of the way as she turned to hold her arms up and block Enceladus's spear. Emily's invincibility still allowed her to feel the force put against her, the sharpness trying to penetrate her skin, but she held her ground through the pain and the spear wasn't able to do her anymore harm, Jason scrambling back and out of the way. I blasted Enceladus with my built up beams of energy, his attention diverting to me.

"Ah, a daughter of Zenobia, are you? Following in your mother's foolish footsteps, I see. Hear me, Zyanya, you will soon be destroyed. It is only a matter of time before your power fails you, and Gaea will have no use for you. When this world belongs to us, you shall not be offered mercy, let alone protection from the Chaos."

"I don't need your protection, and I sure as hell won't let you take this place without a fight!" I ran up to him, the power ready to burst within me, but I kept it in control,  _we_  kept it doing exactly what we wanted. I jumped up to punch him in the chest, causing him to stagger back. When I hit the ground again, I reached and grabbed Veon's sword that was still lodged in Enceladus's leg and turned it to push it up and cut his leg and jumping up. I fired my gun for long range, the bullets doing damage as they were infused with my power as well, before slicing across the giant's shoulder and then kicking him farther back. He tried to swat at me, but when a girl gets power from a goddess to do anything she can imagine, the first thing she does is learn how to fly, so I knew how to move in combat.

"You are weak, goddess! Choosing to inhabit hosts does nothing but limit your power!"

"You are smart, Enceladus. You must know that I choose my hosts carefully, and I choose to inhabit them for a reason. You were built a specific way to counter a goddess, meaning her strengths and weaknesses are predictable enough for you to be her opposite. Every god is limited in one way or another, stuck in a personality, with power directed to a certain task or ability, and I admit even I am subject to such a fate. But just because plants need water to grow doesn't mean Demeter can control it. Did you know that the giants were originally made to be undefeatable by the gods, but humans changed that, allowed the gods to prevail? Mortals hold power you may never understand, never be able to accept! They can take bend the powers of the gods and take them to heights impossible to the gods themselves! And that is why I will not fall to someone such as you, or Gaea!"

I guess I felt honored to be considered one of those humans that were worthy of praise from her of all gods, if she could even be called a god (or goddess, of course). But of course, hosting her did have its drawbacks. My mother was her previous host, and she was a goddess, not a human. I was three quarters god, as my mother was a full goddess and my dad a half-blood, but even that was a large amount of human, enough to be useful, but also resilient to host the power of someone so great. Even so, I required doses of nullifying sedative to keep Zyanya's power under control if things got out of hand. If her power got out of control, and my part-human body couldn't handle it, I would burn up, soul and all (so no afterlife and whatnot), and that would be the end.

It was a risk I was willing to take anyway, and it wasn't like I had much to miss even if that did happen. Before Zyanya, my life had no purpose. I was a runaway, and I had no idea why I kept fighting all the challenges of the world. I feel like I have some kind of goal for my life, helping the goddess for as long as I can, and there wasn't really anything I cared for to miss if and when I did die. No family, no friends…Wait. I…I had friends. Would I miss my friends if I died…?

I mean, when Zyanya first told me to go to an orphanage, be taken in and fit in with society again, I hated it. All these people talking to me, being loud and obnoxious and never shutting up, feeling pity for me since I was an orphan. School got even worse, with hormonal teenagers cursing their heads off, talking about worthless junk when they should be paying attention in class, throwing things across the room, and shouting out unneeded comments when they shouldn't just because they knew it was annoying, acting like they're the best thing since the wheel was invented.

The choir and drama kids at least could take things seriously and I connected with them more. I always loved music, and thanks to the goddess, I could play any instrument I wanted even though I'd never laid a finger on them before. Choir is where I'd met my friends. Audrey, Emily and Veon. We were all different in our own ways, even if we didn't know to what extent back when we'd first become a group. I'll admit, I got attached to them. We always made fun of how weird Veon's name was, we sang our songs, Audrey and I would share stories that we wrote, Audrey would show us pictures and art she drew, Emily would always ask how our days were, even though most of the time we just said "good" or "it sucks, you?", but she was nice and cheerful all the same. I liked them, and I'll admit, maybe I'd miss them if I lost them.

Not to mention I was making more friends, like Jason, Piper and Leo. Demigods were my people, I guess you could say. I connected with Audrey, Veon and Emily, and even after only a few days, Jason, Piper and Leo were to my liking as well. All those people at Camp Half-Blood, every demigod out there…it felt like I wasn't alone anymore, there were so many friends I could make. The thought actually…excited me, despite my previous demeanor where meeting more people just meant I was expected to actually put effort into  _speaking_  to them and  _remembering their names_. Ugh. Okay, maybe I still wasn't over that phase. Oh, right, we were fighting a giant right now.

Suddenly Jason charged, attempting to strike while the giant was distracted, but Enceladus turned to him hearing his battle cry. At the last second, Jason faked a strike and rolled between the giant's legs. He came up quickly, thrusting with all his might and attempting to stab the giant in the small of his back, but Enceladus anticipated the trick. He stepped to the side with too much agility for his size, and it seemed the earth was helping him. Ever heard of a fair fight, Gaea, or do you not believe Enceladus can with this fight us on his own? He swept his spear sideways, met Jason's javelin, and with a snap like a shotgun blast, the golden weapon shattered.

Imperial Gold was volatile, I remembered, and even Medea had warned us not to break Jason's weapon. The explosion was hotter than the giant's breath, blinding us with a golden light. I held my arm up to block my eyes, but otherwise, the heat didn't hurt me with my enhanced body. I felt the force of the explosion pass through me like a punch in the chest, but nothing too serious compared to the things Zyanya and her hosts had faced before. I had some of her memories since our merging, but she still made sure to keep dangerous knowledge to herself. There were things she didn't tell me, and when my human mind needed sleep, she could go about doing what she wanted with my body. I wasn't worried she'd go and make me act like a fool or anything, but it did worry me about what kind of things she'd hide from me. It had to be important if I wasn't allowed to know, and I was her trusted host, after all.

When the dust settled and I lowered my arm, I saw that Emily had pushed Jason to the rim of a crater. Enceladus stood at the other side, staggering and confused. The javelin's destruction had released so much energy, it had blasted a perfect cone-shaped pit thirty feet deep, fusing the dirt and rock into a slick, glassy substance. Had Emily not acted, shoving Jason back and shielding him with her invincibility, he'd have surely been dead. Both were still steaming from the aftereffects, and Jason was without his weapon now, but they were alive. Enceladus blinked at the destruction, and then laughed.

"Impressive! Unfortunately, that was your last trick, demigod." Enceladus leaped the crater in a single bound, planting his feet on either side of Jason and Emily. Emily scrambled to get into a blocking position, when the giant raised his spear, it tip hovering six feet above them. "And now, my first sacrifice to Gaea!"

"Not on your life…" I muttered before holding my hand out. He raised his spear over his head, keeping it in line with his striking point, and then swung it forward. But I stopped it about a third of the way, my telekinetics working against his strength. The spear shook as he resisted, but I grabbed ahold of it and locked it in place.

"Heads up!" Leo yelled. Veon suddenly appeared out of the shadows at Enceladus's foot, and Audrey's water reformed into her at the other, before Veon extended his lance towards her and she took the other end the moment she solidified. A large, black, metal wedge suddenly slammed into Enceladus with a massive  _thunk!_ The giant toppled backwards, assisted as Veon and Audrey pushed the lance against the giant's ankles and acted as a tripping wire, sending him down into the pit. Looks like Leo managed to get the hydraulic ax working.

"Jason, Emily, get up!" Piper ordered. The two did so, Jason a little wobbly but obeying her charm speak command. Piper ran over and slung his arm over her shoulder, wrapping her arm around his waist and helping haul him to his feet. "Don't die on me. You are  _not_  dying on me!"

"Yes, ma'am," Jason said, still a bit lightheaded.

"Woo!" Veon said. "I can't believe that worked so well. Nice job with the water thing, Audrey."

"Well, your charades about what to do came in handy. We're teaming up if we ever have to play a round of that, got it?"

"Deal. It was kind hard to tell if you understood, being a puddle of water and all." I waved my hand and summoned Enceladus's spear into my hands. It was a bit bulky, but not impossible to hold, especially with me in the air and my strength.

"Nice coordination, you two," I said, hovering down to them. "And Emily, very quick acting. All of you, in fact. You're all master demigods already. Ah, how they grow so fast." Veon chuckled.

"Thanks, old woman."

"How dare you? I'm only 16!" Everyone shared a small laugh before a grunt made us realize we still had work to do. In the crater, Enceladus was struggling to rise, an ax blade the side of a washing machine stuck in his breastplate. Amazingly, the giant managed to pull the ax blade free, yelling in pain while doing so and causing the mountain to rumble. Golden ichor soaked the front of his armor, but Enceladus stood.

"Good try, but I cannot be beaten." As we watched, the giant's armor mended itself, the flow of ichor stopping. All of the cuts previously made by Audrey, Veon and Jason (who had worked so hard to make) were sealing and just pale scars. The cut on his leg and the one on his shoulder that I'd made with Veon's blade were in the process of healing, but my bullet wounds were taking their time, as my weapons had a special flare to them that resisted healing and reforming of the target. Thank Zyanya for that. Leo ran up to us and saw the giant before cursing.

"What  _is_  it with this guy? Die, already!"

"My fate is preordained," Enceladus said. "Giants cannot be killed by gods or heroes."

"Only by both," I said, and the giant's smile faltered. There was fear in his eyes that I knew how to kill him. "Gods and demigods have to work together to kill you." The giant lunged forward, stumbling up the crater's slope, slipping on the glassy sides.

"So, do you count as a god, Zy?" Audrey asked.

"I'll admit, I've never actually tested it on a giant before," Zyanya said through me. "Usually I let the mortals and the gods handle that and blast my enemies to Tartarus myself. Doubt I could do so as easily in this body. Consider that the gods are merely a title for the children of the Titans, barring the occasional exception like Aphrodite. You call Zeus a god same as you'd call Enceladus here a giant or Kronos a Titan. I'm not exactly sure what I technically count as, and god is merely a title given to me because I'm powerful and humans have yet to find a proper name for me I approve of. I'll need one of you as my demigod to team with, but I'm sure I can handle the rest, whether I count or not."

"What does that mean?" Veon asked. I couldn't help but smile at him.

"Means what I said." He shrugged.

"Okay, well, I can go. I'm best equipped and I have a lot of experience." Everyone looked around in approval, but the option was taken out of his hands as Jason stared at Enceladus before suddenly leaping at the giant with no weapon but his bare hands.

"Enceladus, look behind you!" Piper and Emily shouted together, thinking quickly before the giant tried to attack him. It was obviously a trick, but their voices together held so much persuasion, that even Zyanya and I were tempted to look over our shoulders to see if there was something interesting.

"What?" The giant asked, and turned like there was an enormous spider on his back. Jason tackled his legs at the moment, and the giant lost his balance, slamming into the crater and sliding to the bottom. While he tried to rise, Jason put his arms around the giant's neck. When Enceladus struggled to his feet, Jason was riding his shoulders.

"Guess we're doing this now!" I said before dropping the giant's spear and launching into the crater as well. I kicked Enceladus's arm away when he tried to reach for Jason and then held both away with my telekinesis, all while launching to join Jason. My telepathy from Zyanya allowed me to hear Jason silently pleading to his father for aid, offering his own life if it meant he could save his friends. Zeus could easily ignore his son, not even hearing his silent prayer (even though he'd be a serious jerk if he did so, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case), but he couldn't ignore an order from Zyanya, since she held a much higher authority than him.

" ** _Zeus, your son has proved he is worthy of your aid, now come and hear his wish!_** " She and I said together in our minds, Zyanya connecting to Zeus and making sure he heard her order. I felt my mind connecting to someone else, someone definitely not human, and Zyanya had a quick talk with Zeus, happily leaving me out since I wasn't exactly a good negotiator, and from what Zyanya had told me, Zeus was a bit…touchy. When the presence of Zeus's mind faded, it was replaced with a metallic scent of a storm, darkness swallowing the sun. The giant froze, sensing it too.

"Hit the deck!" Jason shouted. Before either of us could tell if the others did so, the jolt of energy struck straight through us, straight through Enceladus, and into the ground. The giant's back stiffened, and I grabbed Jason's arm (or rather Zyanya did since my mind was buzzing too much to command my limbs to do anything) and jumped us clear. She had me launch to the side of the crater, a stream of light shooting from my hand to solidify into a pure white, long, sleek sword that jammed into the wall. When I looked down, the crater was cracking open, and I saw the lightning bolt had split the mountain itself. The earth rumbled and tore apart, and Enceladus's legs slid into the chasm. He clawed helplessly at the glassy sides of the pit, and just for a moment managed to hold on to the edge, his hands trembling, and looked to us with a glare of hatred.

"You've won nothing!" He declared. "My brothers are rising, and they are ten times as strong as I! We will destroy the gods at their roots! You will die, and Olympus will die with you! And you, goddess of Order, shall grow only weaker by the day and will be destroyed before you can accomplish your goal and stop it! Your so-called "friends" will find out who you really are, what you've done, that you plan to-!" I interrupted by opening my mouth and blasting a beam of energy at him, causing him to lose his grip and fall into the crevice. They'd never be allowed to know what Zyanya and I have done, they can't. If they find out…everything we're trying to do will be ruined.

With the giant gone, the chasm closed like and angry mouth, and the presence of Gaea left the ground. For now, she was gone. I swung Jason up and out of the chasm before hovering and pulling my sword out before flying up and joining the others. The mountainside was on fire, smoke billowing hundreds of feet into the air. I spotted a helicopter, maybe firefighters or reporters, and landed on the ground as they came towards us. All around us, there was carnage. The Earthborn had melted into piles of clay, leaving behind only their rock missiles and some nasty bits of loincloth, and construction equipment lay in ruins, the ground scarred and blackened.

Coach Hedge started to move, sitting up with a groan and rubbing his head. Seriously, how did he sleep through all that? His canary yellow pants were now the color of Dijon mustard mixed with mud, and he looked around at the battle scene. "Did I do this?" Before any of us could answered, he picked up his club and got shakily to his feet. "Yeah, you wanted some hoof? I gave you some hoof, cupcakes! Who's the goat, huh?" He did a little dance, kicking rocks and making rude satyr gestures at the piles of clay. Leo cracked a smile, and they Jason flat out laughed, Audrey and Emily joining him. Veon jumped to his feet smiling.

"Ha! We did it! Whoo!" He cheered and pumped his fist. His stupid grin and attitude made me smile too, before suddenly he tackled me with a hug. That would've been fine, and I would've even returned it too, if he hadn't also pressed his lips against mine and made me stiffen like a board in shock. He pulled back before I could fully process what was happening and confirm it was real, and he was still smiling like an idiot before he suddenly turned shocked as if he'd just realized what he'd done too. I must've looked like an idiot and staring at him like he was a monster, but I didn't care as my mind shut down and thought was impossible.

" _Lucy,_ " Zyanya urged, her mental form appearing in front of me, trying to stand in front of Veon and snap in front of my face. " _Lucy? Goddess to Lucy, do you read me? Hello?! Snap out of it! Lucy!_ " She grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side and I nearly tripped. Though she wasn't actually there, she could still manipulate me from the inside to mimic what I'd be doing if her image was real, kinda like that woman from Nim's Island - Alexandra, I think her name was. The act of being pulled and tripping snapped me out of my confusion, at least enough to speak.

"Y-Yeah. I-I…I'm just gonna…go over there. Yeah." I tried to take another step and walk to the side, but I nearly tripped again on my second step. He moved to catch me, but I pulled back away from his reach and Zyanya ended up having to catch me (ultimately making it look like I'd caught myself). "S-Sorry. I'm good. Just…I'm good." I felt my body temperature rising, and then stinging painfully and knew what was happening. No, dammit, not now! "Hey, Mr. McLean!" I turned towards Piper's father, standing across the clearing and staggering forward. His eyes were hollow, shell-shocked, like someone who'd just walked through a nuclear wasteland.

"Piper?" He called. His voice cracked. "Pipes, what - what is-?" He couldn't complete the thought, and Piper ran over to him, hugging him tightly, but he almost didn't seem to know her. He was panicking, the trauma overwhelming him after what had just happened. He was coming apart.

Then, I realized everyone had their attention on them and I quickly pulled a syringe out of the inner pocket of my jacket before turning away and stabbing the needle into my left upper arm. Just in time, too, because I was literally beginning to steam, and there was no way I could hide that from the others. My body was burning from the inside out, my skin beginning to glow slightly in small patches that were spreading. I pushed down the plunger and injected the dose slowly, feeling the cool and icy feeling spreading throughout my body. I stopped before I had given myself a full dose, as to avoid Zyanya's power being completely nullified and her sleeping, leaving me completely powerless, and only gave myself about a quarter. I slipped the syringe back into my pocket, feeling my body temperature returning to normal and the burning stop. I must've overexerted myself in that battle, and the lightning bolt didn't help. Yeah, that must've been what caused that. Yeah…

"We need to get out of here," Zyanya said, and I realized she'd taken over talking for me.

"But how?" Leo asked. "He's in no shape to walk." Audrey looked up and I followed her gaze to see the helicopter now circling directly overhead.

"Anyone got a bullhorn or something?" She asked. "Piper and Emily have some talking to do."


	27. From One Battle to Another

First Person: Emily

Barrowing the helicopter was easier than I expected. I may not technically have charm speak, but I could still sway someone to stand down and help, not to mention Piper's words held a lot of influence compared to back at Medea's department store, where we couldn't command the others to do anything. The pilot landed on the mountain, and we found it was a Park Service copter, big enough for medical evacuations or search and rescue. Piper and I told the very nice ranger pilot lady that it would be a great idea to fly us to the Oakland Airport, and she readily agreed, faster than I expected. I kind of felt bad for tricking her, bending her will to believe what we wanted her to. Did that make us any better than Drew or Medea? But it wasn't like we were using our powers for evil like them, right? We were helping get Piper's dad to safety, saving the world from the giants and such.

When fighting that giant, I'd found I could sense when someone was about to be harmed, kinda like Spider Man's "spidy sense" and I could protect them with my invincibility. I also seemed to be much faster when it came to going and saving someone. Interesting, but useful, as I had to save Jason at least, what? Three times? I'm glad he's okay, even if his javelin broke. We managed to save Piper's dad, all of us still intact, and now we were headed to drop him off to safety and then head to the Wolf House. I hoped Thalia and the other hunters were okay. They seemed like very nice people, even if they were different. Now hopefully someone knew the location of the Wolf House so we could get there as soon as possible.

It'd taken both me and Piper to try and keep Mr. McLean calm. Luckily Hedge had put on his pants and shoes so we wouldn't have to try and explain the goat legs, but he seemed utterly distraught, muttering things about how he lived in a world of monsters, and something about blades…Then there was something about the six-armed Earthborn. It hurt Piper to see her father this way, but it hurt me just as much to see both of them going through this. Piper and I made sure we stayed on the bright side, focusing on the fact that Piper's mother was Aphrodite, and her father called her a hero, and he was proud.

Piper told the pilot to go to the airport, nowhere else, and that this wasn't the famous Tristan McLean, just somebody that looked like him, and she believed her so fast it didn't seem real. Even though I didn't have charm speak, I might as well have when it came to charming humans. Everything else didn't seem to like getting influenced by me, but regular mortals were so easy it was scary. Clearly, Piper was feeling the same way about the charm speaking based on her face, but I put my hand on her shoulder and tried to make her understand we were using it for good, and we weren't forcing the pilot to do anything absurd like crash on purpose.

For some reason, it worked when I made physical contact, and she calmed down, nodding. It had happened like that back at the campfire in Camp Half-Blood when I'd encouraged Piper to come on the trip. I put my hand on her, and suddenly my determination and bravery transferred to her and she spoke up. So I could protect people and influence people's emotions. Sounded very Hestia-Aphrodite to me. I handled some of the convincing whenever the charm speak seemed to be wearing off, and convinced the people that were asking the pilot where she was going over the radio that we were helping a man that we'd rescued from a lightning strike fire. They accepted that response, and finally left us alone, but I stayed with the headset just in case the convincing wore off.

Piper told her father about our travels, her time in the Wilderness School, her cabin at Camp Half-Blood, how Coach Hedge ate carnations and got knocked on his butt on Mount Diablo, how Leo and I tamed a dragon, and how Jason made the wolves back down by talking in Latin. We tried to stay on the positive side of things, and as Piper talked, her dad seemed to relax, but didn't smile.

"What's that?" Jason asked, leaning out the doorway and pointing. I looked to see nothing very interesting, just hills, woods, houses, little roads snaking through the canyons. A highway cut through a tunnel in the hills, connecting the East Bay with the inland towns.

"Highway 24," Zyanya responded. "The Caldecott Tunnel." Jason stared intently at the tunnel entrance, but said nothing. It disappeared from view as we flew over downtown Oakland, but Jason still stared into the distance, his expression unsettled. Maybe that highway meant something connected to Jason's lost memories.

"Monsters…" Piper's dad said. "I live in a world of monsters." That turned my gut in sadness. Piper's father had now been exposed to a part of the world that's been hidden for a reason, and it's breaking him. Ignorance can truly be bliss, can't it? On the one hand, he knows Piper's a hero, knows that she isn't the troubled and spoiled child that deserves being sent to a bunch of schools because of the trouble she's caused. But at the cost of being through a soul-shattering experience, going through things scary enough to break someone forever. I could sense the turmoil within him, but I couldn't find any way to heal it like I had back in the department store with my friends.

"His soul is very fragile," Veon whispered to me. "Even beginning to crack, if not shattered already. I'm not an expert, but I can sense how unnatural his soul feels. Is there any way you can help?"

"Not that I know of," I admitted sadly. "There's just…nothing. He's traumatized beyond the point of comprehension, and I don't believe any kind of therapy can help him cope. He was thrown into this whole world of craziness in the scariest way possible. We're demigods and we may have had it hard, the monsters and our powers just appearing one day, but he was kidnapped, tortured, told he'd never see his daughter again, and he always lived his life believing that all these kinds of things were nothing but stories. Everything he ever knew was shattered right before him, and he doesn't know what to believe anymore. I think he's only in this good a condition because of Piper. Without her, he'd be in mental breakdown right now, unable to believe that any safety is real."

"So what do we do?"

"I…the only thing I can think of is to erase his memories somehow, make him forget all the pain he's going through. It…it doesn't seem right to deprive him of the truth, but…"

"We have to. We can't let him live like this, and he might as well be suicidal right now. It may be a lie, but all mortals live without the knowledge of this craziness for a reason. He may not remember that Piper's his hero, but maybe we can get them to connect afterwards, work out the relationship kinks they had before he sent her to the Wilderness School."

"But she can't go back to live with her dad anymore, not with our life, right?"

"Well, she was sent to the Wilderness School, right? So all we have to do is pretend that Camp Half-Blood is the school, or some kind of summer camp he'd sent her to. A little charm can convince him that he permitted it, and we were told Camp Half-Blood acts as a summer camp anyway, but they also work year round, so the winter thing won't be odd. We'll make it work. I know…well, does the whole taking his memories thing…you know, make you uncomfortable after what happened at the department store?"

"No…well, I'm not sure," I admitted. "As long as he's happy…it's better than this. Sometimes it's okay to let people feel things, no matter how bad, it's what makes them who they are, but…this…he can't survive with such trauma, can he? I guess…there's a line to cross between being far too nice, and far too harsh." He put an arm over my shoulders.

"Well, I trust you to know where that line is. You're a daughter of Aphrodite, right? Emotions are your thing. I'm no expert, but I know that love has its ups and downs, it can be good but it can also hurt. But hey, your invincibility thing says love can survive through it all, right? I know you'll understand where the limits of emotional things are."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"Now, what about you and Zyanya?"

"Uh, what about us?"

"Well, I can sense that tension after you kissed her." He pulled his arm back and hugged his knees.

"Well…I don't know how…she seemed…I don't know. It wasn't actually planned, so…as daughter of Aphrodite and an expert on love, do you know…what's up…I guess?"

"Well, I'm not actually an expert on love, but I'd say you stunned her, that's for sure."

"In a…good way?"

"I think so. She doesn't seem to hate you or anything, but that's just because of her constant stoic demeanor. She seems pretty indifferent now, like nothing happened. I can't sense her feeling anything." He sighed and put his head to his knees.

"I just ruined everything, didn't I?"

"No! No, I just think…well, you both need time. Once this quest is over, we can go back to Camp Half-Blood and you guys can…work things out, you know? She's changed from the person we knew in High School, but that doesn't mean that person we knew isn't still in there, and you can get to know the goddess better in her better, too. Once you get on Zyanya's good side, you might get her approval to date Lucy!"

"That sounds a lot easier said than done. Just because I wanna date Lucy doesn't mean Zyanya wants to date me, and they're the  _same person_. She's a freaking immortal goddess, for crying out loud. The gods aren't able to fall in love and date like humans. A human's life is nothing compared to the gods who've lived for millennia and will probably live for many more. I'm nothing more than a bug to her, and all the other gods for that matter…"

"Come on, you're a son of Hades. Maybe the gods don't see you now, but you have what it takes to prove to them who you are. Can you go and visit your dad whenever you want?"

"Yeah, but there's little reason since I live up here in the Overworld. I do have a place in the Underworld, but I haven't really gotten much use for it. It's just for if my dad wants me to spend the night or something." He raised his head. "He did offer me a job down there, though…"

"Perfect! You can use that to both train your powers and become more powerful, and get a good reputation in the eyes of the other gods. You  _are_  technically the Prince of the Underworld if Hades is the King, right?"

"Well…I guess so." He sighed and leaned back. "But this is worse than the whole "meeting her parents and getting blessing to date her" thing. This is a goddess that I've never even heard of before, and I did a  _lot_  of research when I learned about my dad. Who knows how powerful she is, and whether anything I do will be enough. I'm still human, no matter what I do."

"Well, don't give up. At least you've got a goal."

"Yeah, gotta dig myself out of the hole I just threw myself into."

"At least you didn't get struck by lightning and then fall through a crack in the earth while you were trying to climb out."

"Yet."

"That won't happen! I think…But anyway. Go for it! Be more positive, Veon. That's a charm speaking order. If you love her, you're going to try, got it? And you do, don't deny it."

"What's that mean?"

"Boys tend to do that, don't they? Anyway, I know you have what it takes. Cheer up, and get to work! Well, not until the end of this quest, of course, but the moment after!"

"You're really taking this Aphrodite thing seriously."

"What do you mean?" He smiled.

"Nevermind. Thanks, Em." He put an arm over my shoulder and hugged me. "But seriously, is that how you think boys are?"

"I don't know. Does being a demigod make things different?" He chuckled.

"Don't think so. If anything, it makes us even more like that. We powerful guys are tough and admitting things isn't easy. At least, that's from the perspective of a son of the Great Three. Maybe for the Aphrodite boys they are all about the whole love thing."

"I'll have to ask them when we get back."

"Sure." Then she looked to the side and put her hand to the headset she was wearing. "Something wrong?"

"The airport. Give me a moment." As it turned out, air traffic control didn't want to let us land an unscheduled helicopter at the Oakland Airport. At least until I got on through the radio. Then, it turned out there wasn't a problem after all. We landed and then unloaded on the tarmac, everyone looking to Piper.

"What now?" Jason asked. She looked down, clearly unhappy having the decision in her lap. She could either try and get her dad home, or assist us on the quest to save Hera.

"First thing," She finally said. "I…I have to get my dad home. I'm sorry guys." Everyone's faces fell.

"It's okay, Piper, we understand," I said. "We can't ask you to abandon your dad after everything. We can handle saving Hera."

"I mean, absolutely," Leo said. "He needs you right now. We can take it from here."

"Pipes, no," Her father said. He had been sitting in the helicopter doorway, a blanket around his shoulders, but he stumbled to his feet. "You have a mission. A quest. I can't…" Piper's father was still willing to let Piper go on her dangerous quest. At least he wasn't completely broken so much that he couldn't remember his love to his daughter. He must've cared a lot. I know my dad must be worried about me right about me…No, not the time to get down.

"I'll take care of him," Hedge suddenly said.

"You?" Piper asked, looking at him incredulously. I have to admit, I didn't expect him to volunteer to miss out on the dangerous quest.

"I'm a protector; that's my job, not fighting." He sounded crestfallen, and I guess telling him about how he got knocked out back in the last battle must've really hurt his pride. Then Hedge straightened and his jaw set. "Of course I'm good at fighting, too." He seemed to glare at us, daring us to argue.

"Of course you are," I said, smiling. "Utterly terrifying."

"Yes," Jason agreed.

"Mm-hmm," Leo said, nodding. The coach grunted.

"But I'm a protector, and I can do this. Your dad's right, Piper, you need to carry on with this quest.

"But…Dad…" He held his arms out and she hugged him tightly.

"Come on, let's give them a minute," Jason said. We all silently agreed and took the pilot a few yards down the tarmac. I looked back to see Piper take out a vial and show it to her dad. It certainly didn't look like something from Medea's department store, at least as far as I could remember.

"It will erase his memories of this event," Zyanya whispered to me. "That is the only thing that can possibly help him cope with what happened. At the least, they're making up now, and quite possibly he will be more mentally prepared later in life so that he can remember this once more, but for now, this is how it has to be."

"I understand. I thought the same thing, actually. Still…it's sad."

"Just remember it'll all be fine in the end, even if there's a little sadness in the middle. Piper's dad made it through the storm, at least as far as he'd concerned. The rest is up to us, and he hopefully won't be brought back into this again. We'll go and keep all this far away from him, and everyone else, too." I nodded.

"Right." Over with Piper, her dad drank the pink liquid in the vial. His eyes rolled up into his head and everyone hurried over as he slumped forward, Piper catching him.

"Got him," Coach Hedge said. He stumbled, but he was strong enough to hold Tristan McLean upright. "I already asked our ranger friend to call up his plane. It's on the way now. Home address?" Piper looked ready to tell him, but then checked her dad's pocket to find his BlackBerry. Can't believe he still had it after being captured by a giant. I guess Enceladus didn't really see a reason to confiscate it.

"Everything's on here," Piper said. "Address, his chauffeur's number. Just watch out for Jane."

"Who's Jane?" The satyr asked, his eyes lighting up like he sensed a possible fight. Piper explained how Jane was the person I heard her and Medea talking about back in the department store. Apparently Medea had influenced Jane into covering Piper's dad's disappearance without the public knowing. Who knows if Medea still had influence over her, whether Medea was dead or was back from the dead after the department store debacle. Might want to fire her either way, just to be safe. You know, I wondered if that wind spirit, Mellie (very nice aura, I liked her) could be her replacement. She was looking for a job now, thanks to us. Granted, she did say she'd been working at Aeolus's place longer than most (twelve hours really wasn't much anyway). This job would be much better, and perfect for her.

By the time Piper was done explaining Jane and I voiced my recommendation, her dad's sleek white Gulfstream had taxied next to the helicopter. Hedge and I got Piper's dad on board, and I convinced the flight attendant that Hedge was trustworthy, and hopefully Hedge didn't do anything too violent to prove otherwise while we weren't there to charm the people that nothing was wrong. Once the attendant said they were all prepped and Tristan was safely settled in, Hedge and I returned to the others, Hedge to say his goodbyes. He gave Piper a hug and they glared at Jason, Leo and Veon.

"You cupcakes take care of this girl, you hear? Or I'm gonna make you do pushups."

"You got it, coach," Leo said, a smile tugging at his mouth.

"No pushups," Jason promised.

"Gotta admit, not a gym person," Veon said. "Threat taken. We'll take care of her, Hedge."

"Wait, what about us?" Audrey asked.

"As in we should look after Piper too, or we should be looked after too?" I asked.

"Both." Veon laughed and put an arm around her.

"We'll look after you too, Audrey." I hugged him from his other side. He was all big and tough on the outside (and you'd really think he'd be an athlete, seriously) but he was such a softie on the inside. Piper hugged Hedge one more hug.

"Thank you, Gleeson. Take care of him, please."

"I got this, McLean," The satyr assured her. "They got root beer and veggie enchiladas on this fight, and one hundred percent linen napkins - yum! I could get used to this."

"Lucky…" Leo muttered and we all chuckled. Trotting up the stairs, he lost one shoes, and his hoof was visible for just a second. The flight attendant's eyes widened, but then I saw Zy subtly flicked her wrist, the flight attendant looking away like nothing was wrong, and Hedge's shoe flying back on, as though someone hit reverse on the tape recorder.

When the plane was heading down the runaway, Piper started to cry. I was surprised she'd managed to hold it in this long, to be honest. I could feel her emotion from here, and I wasn't even used to feeling people's emotions yet, so I wasn't good very at interpreting it. But she was bursting with sadness right now, I knew that, but it wasn't really despair, like she may never see her dad again or was sad he wasn't able to remember that he had known her as a hero. There was a bittersweet feeling that I couldn't really put into words. Before we knew it, Jason was hugging her, and then I joined from the other side. Veon still had his arm around Audrey's shoulders, and they watched as though they could sense that bittersweet feeling too, and maybe they could. Leo stood uncomfortably nearby (Zy didn't seem keen on putting an arm around him despite clearly empathizing as well), pulling a Kleenex out of his tool belt, and the sight made me smile.

"Your dad's in good hands," Jason said. "You did amazing."

"Right," I added. "You were awesome Piper, and he'll always be proud of you no matter what." She sobbed into Jason's shirt and took a few deep breaths, but we wouldn't be angry if she stayed there for a few more, as long as that's what she needed. Okay, Hera might be a bit upset if we were late, but I wasn't gonna tear Piper away from this moment. Granted, the helicopter pilot also looked uncomfortable and seemed to already be wondering why she flew us here.

"Thank you guys," Piper said. "I…" She looked like she had a million things to say, a million things to thank us for, but not enough words to properly do so. We all nodded in understanding though. She didn't need to thank us, and she had already paid us back in full just by being our friend, sticking with us through this journey, and being a great sort-of-half-sister to me.

Then, right next to Jason, the air began to shimmer. At first, I thought it was heat off the tarmac, maybe gas fumes from the helicopter, but it looked familiar. A…Iris message? Yeah, I remember being told about those back at Camp Half-Blood, and there'd been some shimmering at Medea's department store fountain. An image appeared in the air - a dark-haired girl in silver winter camouflage, holding a bow.

"Thalia!" I realized.

"Thank the gods," She said. The scene behind her was hard to make out, but I heard yelling, metal clashing on metal and explosions, so clearly she was in a battle or the training grounds at Camp Half-Blood (I was going for the former). "We found her. Where are you?"

"Oakland," Jason said. "Where are you?"

"The Wolf House! Oakland is good; you're not too far. We're holding off the giant's minions, but we can't hold them back forever. Get here before sunset or it's all over."

"Then it's not too late?!" Piper cried, hoping sinking in.

"Not yet, but Jason - it's worse than I expected. Porphyrion is rising. Hurry."

"But where is the Wolf House?!" Jason pleaded.

"Our last trip," Thalia said, her image starting to flicker. "The park. Jack London, remember?" What kind of answer was that? Hera has  _stolen his memories!_  How the hell was she expecting him to suddenly remember when this entire trip he has barely been able to regain any conscious memories, the closest thing being subconscious things gained from normal muscle memory? If this was so bad and this giant - Porcupine, had Audrey called him? - was rising, they she should just freaking tell us! Jogging Jason's memory was great, but not when the entire world was at stake if he didn't remember! Besides, we get there and save Hera and his memories come back anyway, right?! The Iris message disappeared and I huffed. Great. If the world got destroyed and Porcupine (that can't be his name, but I can't remember what it was anymore) rose, then let the world know it was all Thalia's fault for being vague and not sending the people who could stop it to the right location!

"Bro, you all right?" Leo asked, and I turned to see Jason staring at the place where the Iris message had been, looking like he'd been shot. "You know where she is?"

"Yes, Sonoma Valley. Not far. Not by air." Piper turned to the pilot, who'd been watching all this with an increasingly puzzled expression.

"Ma'am, You don't mind helping us one more time, do you?" She asked with her best smile.

"I don't mind," The pilot agreed.

"We can't take her to battle with us," Audrey pointed out.

"I can handle it," Zyanya said. "Bell 412HP utility helicopter. Composite four-blade main rotor, cruising speed one hundred twenty two-knots, service ceiling twenty-thousand feet. Tank…near full. Maximum speed one hundred forty knots, length 56 feet, give or take an inch, rotor diameter 46 feet, height 15 feet, empty weight about 6789 lb, fuselage length 43 feet, rate of climb 1350 feet per minute, range 609 miles and-"

"Did I mention that whole show off thing before?" Veon asked. She smiled.

"Can't help it. Besides, I take it as a compliment." Well, I guess they're not awkward or anything. "Everyone in. Lift off in three." She hopped into the helicopter and disappeared to the pilot's seat before peaking her head back around. "Oh, and here." She tossed me a large wad of cash. "Give her that for her troubles when you explain. There's a note in there too that should help when she snaps out of it and her officials find out. Should soften the blow." She disappeared into the helicopter again before I could argue that it wasn't right to just steal a helicopter and leave the woman to suffer the consequences with only a wad of cash to pay for it. Piper just smiled at the ranger again.

"You don't have a problem with a bunch of under-aged, unlicensed kids borrowing your copter, do you?" She asked. "We'll return it." That was a lie, and we all knew it.

"I…I don't have a problem with that," The pilot said.

"Here, ma'am," I said, passing over the wad of cash. "Thank you for helping us. You've been of great assistance and it was the right thing to do." She smiled.

"You're welcome, now go on, children." I still felt bad, but I knew that it had to be done and there was no other way we were going to get to the Wolf House on time, and that meant we'd risk the world being destroyed. The rest of us piled into the helicopter and Zyanya clicked a few buttons out of what had to be hundreds, with dials, gages and the control sticks. Veon sat copilot (he was so just looking for an excuse to sit near Zy, but I wasn't complaining since it was cute) while the rest of us held on as we flew off to save the queen of the gods.


	28. The Final Battle Begins

First Person: Zytaveon

Traveling to go and save the world or possibly get killed. Great. Marvelous. Totally prepared. What made it terrible? The fact that I was sitting next to a girl that I kissed and she's acting like  _nothing happened!_  It is literally tearing me from the inside out! Does she f-ing hate me or not? Do I dare to hope that I'm overreacting and she's good with it? Did I just ruin everything between us and she's just a really good actor? (Considering I met her in the drama department as school, I wouldn't put it against her). Gods, this sucked.

She just sat there smiling, looking around at the controls of the helicopter effortlessly. She didn't look uncomfortable or brooding, so that was a good sign, and she didn't look like she was constantly checking the helicopter gauges and dials to avoid talking to me (I really can't say much because I have no idea how this thing works, but my point is she  _looks_  calm and collected). It was driving me crazy that  _she_  wasn't being driven crazy! I think she's just doing this to make me look like a fool, honestly…

"You're staring at me," She said without looking my way and clicking one of the millions of buttons. She didn't even look upset! She said it like she was asking if I was having a good day, which I really wasn't at the moment.

"Sorry," I said, unsure of what else to say. I was usually good at improvisation under pressure, being in the drama department back at school and all, but right now, nothing really came to mind.

"Well, if you have something to say, say it. If you want something to stare at, there are at least three windows that have an amazing view, my friend."

"Yeah, not really a guy who likes heights. Son of Hades. I like the ground where the graveyards are." Okay, that sounded a bit dark, I'll admit. I wasn't against being in the air, but it did make my stomach turn, seeing the ground so far away. Staring at the ground too long would probably make me sick, but I could stand being in the air for a while, at least. I liked the solid feeling of the ground, but I guess that was just something any human could prefer, and it wasn't related to being the son of Hades.

"Well, Audrey's a daughter of Poseidon, those of which also don't like flying, and she seems fine."

"Well, she isn't staring out the window or looking down."

"True. I'm a granddaughter of Zeus, so I'm okay with the sky."

"You never did explain that, did you?"

"Not much to say. My mother was a daughter of Zeus, and here I am, his granddaughter."

"So, did you get powers from Zeus, or are they weakened since you're a second generation?"

"Well…I can shoot lightning, but it's very draining. I haven't really done it in a while though, and who knows if the goddess's strength will help me out. I don't want to be reliant on her power, though. No one else here has divine power on their side, and they can manage just fine. I appreciate the goddess's generosity for lending me her strength, but I also want to work on using my powers on my own." She smiled in a reminiscent way. "I was once called "lightning fingers" because of my powers, but don't you ever dare use that or I'll show you what lighting fingers can do first hand. My brother-" But she instantly cut herself off, and I saw her smile fade with a panicked look, clearly having said too much.

"You have a brother?" I asked on instinct and instantly regretted it. I mentally smacked myself. Stupid! I should have kept quiet since she clearly was hesitant about the topic and I didn't need to push things farther than they'd already gone.

" _Had,_ " She corrected almost bitterly and I wanted to bang my head against the wall for asking. "We weren't even related by blood. I'd just met him while I had been taken in to an orphanage and brought him along with me. Died a little before I was taken to America by another orphanage organization."

"Where are you from?"

"Well, I'll have to ask. I did a lot of running when I was little, so I'm not sure where I was born. I was taken in a lot before I learned how to run, escape, and survive on my own properly. I was mostly in the Europe-Asia region though. I clearly remember the U.K., Russia, China and then Japan before I came to America."

"Do you speak other languages?" I asked, happy that the topic seemed to be progressing a little better.

"I speak fluent Japanese, though you wouldn't assume that based on my English accent, and I can tend to slip into a British accent if I'm not focusing from my time in the U.K. That's basically what made learning American English slightly easier to learn. I can speak some Chinese, and very little Russian. It's been a long time, though, and I'm not sure how rusty I've become since learning English. The goddess helps me translate all languages anyway, so I guess it really doesn't matter."

"Why has she let you start talking and not her?"

"She's flying the copter, allowing me access to my mouth to keep me busy, talk to you, and such. Really, though, I  _have_  stolen a helicopter before, so I know the basics of how to fly."

"How the heck do you steal a helicopter?"

"Well, years of practice and a little demigod flare, really. I may not have had charm speak at the time, but I have power over some electricity, including the electrical circuits of the brain. They're small, and very hard to interpret, but I can force my own brain signals to flow through someone else's if I try really hard, meaning I can implant thoughts or memories as long as I know what the thought or memory is myself. No real reason to use it with Zyanya here, but I'd best be prepared if one day she decides to ditch me or is taking a nap and leaving me awake."

"What's it like? Being bonded with a god?"

"Not really sure how to describe it. She's connected to me, and sometimes I can't tell the difference between her thoughts and mine. I trust her, though, and it's not like I know everything in her mind. She's still a god, and giving me all the information in her head risks me burning up. All and all, it's not really much different than having your conscious have a separate voice and personality from you."

"Like Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio?"

"I've…never actually seen that movie before. I've  _heard_  of it, but not a lot of time for Disney movies when you're constantly on the run. Once I was no longer running, I was already too old for them."

"You're never too old for Disney. I'm gonna show you the movie as soon as this is over. Maybe the rest of them too. Just not Hercules. They make all the Olympian stuff we're used to look  _so_  bad. Especially my dad; he's apparently the villain. Although, they  _do_  make him a funny character, even if I could  _never_  imagine my dad being that way." She smiled.

"Movie marathon? I'll be there. But I  _have_  played Kingdom Hearts, you know, so I have the basic knowledge of some of the movies. You should know. You and I played that series together, always fighting over the controller since it was a one-player game."

"Not to mention with all the Final Fantasy games we played. Ten is still the best."

"No way. In thirteen you don't have to switch in the characters to level them up."

"Ten has more content, better music, and you can customize weapons."

"Thirteen has a better sequel and a  _lot_  more good music. You can level up the ultimate weapons instead of playing all those dumb minigames in ten. Ugh, blitzball and chocobo racing. Not to mention the lightning bolt dodges, the monster capturing, the  _monster arena_. Too much content. Too much to do!" We laughed and Audrey poked her head up front.

"Hey, what are you two videogame nerds talking about?"

"The usual," We said together.

"Great. So where are we going again? Sonar?"

"Sonoma Valley," Jason corrected. "The Wolf House is an abandoned mansion there, built by a demigod named Jack London."

"Never heard of him," Leo said. "He an actor?"

"Writer," Zyanya said, her god part coming out again. "Adventure stuff.  _Call of the Wild_ ,  _White Fang_ , etc. He was a son of Mercury, if I can remember, or Hermes for all you Greeks. Adventurer, traveled the world, even a hobo for a while. Then he made a fortune writing, bought a big ranch in the country and decided to build this huge mansion - the Wolf House. Honestly, I wanted to become a writer, but why build a mansion?"

"Did they name that because of the wolves?" I guessed.

"Partially," Jason said. "But the site, and the reason he wrote about wolves - he was dropping hints about his personal experience. There're a lot of holes in his life story - how he was born, who is dad was, why he wandered around so much - stuff you can only explain if you knew he was a demigod." I looked out the window to see he bay slipping behind us, the helicopter continuing north, yellow hills rolling out ahead of us as far as I could see.

"So Jack London went to Camp Half-Blood?" Leo asked.

"No…no, he didn't…" Jason said in thought.

"Bro, you're freaking me out with the mysterious talk. Are you remembering your past or not?"

"Pieces, only pieces. None of it good. The Wolf House is on sacred ground. It's where London started his journey as a child - where he found out he was a demigod. That's why he returned there. He thought he could live there, claim that land, but it wasn't meant for him."

"The Wolf House was said to be cursed," Zyanya continued. "It burned in a fire a week before he and his wife were supposed to move in. A few years later, London died, and his ashes were buried on the site."

"How do you know all this, Jason?" Piper asked.

"I started my journey there too," Jason said. "It's a powerful place for demigods, a dangerous place. If Gaea can claim it, use its power to entomb Hera on the solstice and raise Porphyrion - that might be enough to awaken the earth goddess fully."

"Wonderful thought," Zy muttered. "We'll be there soon. I suggest you either prepare your weapons or get some rest while you still can." The others shuffled behind us, Jason strapping in and falling asleep almost immediately while Piper, Leo, Emily and Audrey stayed up talking, getting their weapons out just to check them for a moment.

"Zyanya?" I asked her.

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"You just did, sweetheart."

"Uh, right. Well…how to put this…?"

"If you're asking whether I approve of you, the answer is no. At least, not yet." I panicked inside, but also felt sad at the thought actually being out there. At least waiting in wonder meant things weren't set in stone. "Not that…it can't happen in the future." I looked to her in surprise as the words processed. "But not the  _near_  future, mind you. I'm not going to lie and say it's impossible, but I will say it's going to be hard, mister."

"Uh, sure. Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet, buster. Oh, and you might want to hold on."

"Wh-?" But I didn't finish that sentence as the helicopter suddenly jolted. "Okay, hanging on!" Rocks started hitting the windshield, but when I looked closer it seemed to be sleet. Frost built up around the edges of the glass, slushy waves of ice blotting out the view. Hopefully not a problem for Zyanya, but she began to click buttons on the consol quickly and tugged on the stick as the copter began to rock.

"An ice storm?!" Piper shouted over the engine and the wind. "Is it supposed to be this cold in Sonoma?!"

"I don't think so!" Audrey said. "Granted, I've never been here before, but the storm, it's…it's like it's attacking us purposefully!" The chopper's movements turned sluggish and jerky, the whole machine shuddering in the icy wind.

"The copter's not prepped for cold-weather flying!" Zyanya reported as the copter began to lose altitude. "Controls non-responsive! Hold on!" She put her hands over the consol itself and then a shimmering aura spread from her fingers over the controls. The helicopter had begun to plummet, but then it pulled up, just clearing treetops in front of us.

"There!" Jason shouted. A small valley opened up before us, with the murky shape of a building in the middle. Zyanya grunted and the helicopter shifted to aim right for it. All around us were flashes of light, trees cracking and exploding at the edges of the clearing. Shapes moved through the mist, and combat seemed to be everywhere. Zyanya set the helicopter in an icy field and then her power faded from the machine. She sat back for a moment to rest before suddenly jumping up.

"Everyone out!" She commanded, and everyone did so. We leaped from the helicopter and barely cleared the rotors before a massive  ** _Boom!_**  shook the ground, knocking all of us off our feet. When we stood and turned, we saw that the world's largest snowball - a chunk of snow, ice, and dirt the size of a garage - had completely flattened the Bell 412.

"That is why I paid compensation beforehand," Zyanya said. I looked around and everyone seemed to be unharmed. The sounds of combat rang across the valley, the snow and mist making it hard to tell where the fighting was, but there seemed to be a circle of fighting all around the Wolf House. Behind us loomed Jack London's dream home - a massive ruin of red and gray stones and rough-hewn timber beams. It might've once looked awesome, but in the mist and sleet, the place had a lonely and haunted feel. Not bad for a son of Hades, but not exactly a place I'd move into.

"Jason!" A girl's voice called. Thalia appeared from the fog, her parka caked with snow, her bow in hand, but her quiver almost empty. She ran towards us but only made it a few steps before an Earthborn burst out of the storm behind her, a club raised in each hand.

"Look out!" Emily shouted. Thalia launched herself into a flip, notching an arrow as she pivoted like a gymnast and landed in a kneeling position. The ogre got a silver arrow right between the eyes and melted into a pile of clay. Thalia stood and retrieved her arrow, but the point had snapped off.

"That was my last one," She muttered angrily, kicking the pile of clay resentfully. "Stupid ogre."

"Nice shot though," Leo said.

"Here," Zyanya called, tossing her a fully loaded quiver. She looked at it, and I knew that Zyanya hadn't had that a moment ago, but I guess I wasn't surprised at this point. Thalia strapped on the quiver in place of her old one before hugging Jason, nodding to everyone else (except Leo, but he seemed unfazed).

"Just in time," She said. "My Hunters are holding a perimeter around the mansion, but we'll be overrun any minute."

"By Earthborn?" Jason asked.

" _And_  wolves - Lycaon's minions." Thalia blew a fleck of ice off her nose. "Also storm spirits-"

"But we gave them to Aeolus!" Piper protested.

"Who tried to kill us," Leo reminded her. "Maybe he's helping Gaea again."

"Either way, there are probably a lot more than just a few storm spirits out there, whether Aeolus released the ones we gave to him or not," I said.

"The monsters keep re-forming almost as fast as we can kill them," Thalia said. "We took the Wolf House with no problem; surprised the guards and sent them straight to Tartarus, but then this freak snowstorm blew in and wave after wave of monsters started attacking. Now, we're surrounded. I don't know who or what is leading the assault, but I think they planned this. It was a trap to kill anyone who tried to rescue Hera."

"Well, I'm guessing anyone who went to the trouble of capturing the queen of the gods and is trying to raise the king of the giants would have security," Audrey said.

"Where's Hera?" Emily asked.

"Inside," Thalia said. "We tried to free her, but we can't figure out how to break the cage. It's only a few minutes until the sun goes down. Hera thinks that's the moment when Porphyrion will be reborn. Plus, most monsters are stronger at night. If we don't free Hera soon…" She didn't need to finish that thought. We all followed her to the ruined mansion, but when Jason stepped over the threshold, he immediately collapsed.

"Hey!" Leo called, quickly catching him. "None of that, man. What's wrong?"

"This place…" Jason began, shaking his head. "Sorry…It came rushing back to me."

"So you  _have_  been here," Piper said.

"We both have," Thalia said, her expression grim. "This is where my mom took us when Jason was a child. She left him here, told me he was dead. He just disappeared."

"She gave me to the wolves, at Hera's insistence. She gave me to Lupa."

"That part I don't know. Who is Lupa?"

"You'll meet her soon enough," Zyanya said. An explosion shook the building and just outside, a blue mushroom cloud billowed up, raining snowflakes and ice like a nuclear blast made of cold instead of heat. "No time for questions; to the goddess."

Once inside, Jason seemed to gather his bearings. The house was built in a giant U, and we were led between the two wings to an outside courtyard with an empty reflecting pool. At the bottom of the pool, just as Jason had described in his dream, two spires of rock and root tendrils had cracked through the foundation. One of the spires was much bigger - a solid dark mass about twenty feet high, and it kinda looked like a stone body bag. Underneath the mass of fused tendrils I could make out the shape of a head, wide shoulders, a massive chest and arms, like the creature was stuck waist deep in the earth. No, not stuck -  _rising_. That had to be the giant, rising from the earth, meaning Hera's cage had to be the other one.

On the opposite end of the pool, the other spire was smaller and more loosely woven. Each tendril was as thick as a telephone pole, with so little space between them that I doubt any of us could get an arm through. Still, we could see inside: a woman with dark hair covered with a shawl, the black dress of a widow, and a wrinkled face with glinting, scary eyes. She didn't glow or radiate any sort of power, and looked like a regular mortal woman. Leo dropped into the pool and approached the cage.

" _Hello, Aunt,_ " He said in Spanish before switching to English again. "Little bit of trouble?" She crossed her arms and sighed in exasperation.

"Don't inspect me like I'm one of your machines, Leo Valdez. Get me out of here!" Thalia stepped next to him and looked at the cage with distaste, but then I realized she was looking more at Hera and remembered that Hera had a bit of a bad reputation.

"We tried everything we could think of, Leo, but maybe my heart wasn't in it. If it was up to me, I'd just leave her in there."

"You know very well we can't do that, Thalia," Zyanya said. "Leave her in there, and everything dies, and it will be your fault because you can't be honorable and get over your stupid human pride. I figured humans were supposed to be better than the gods."

"Ohh, Thalia Grace," Hera said. "When I get out of here, you'll be sorry you were ever born."

"Save it!" Thalia snapped, ignoring Zyanya. "You've been nothing but a curse to every child of Zeus for ages. You sent a bunch of intestinally challenged cows after my friend Annabeth-"

"She was disrespectful!"

"You dropped a statue on my legs."

"It was an accident!"

" _And_  you took my brother! Here - on this spot! You ruined our lives! We should leave you to Gaea!"

"Thalia Grace!" Zyanya thundered light lightning and she instantly shut up. "I don't care how angry you are, but for that tone and attitude I understand why Hera did what she has done! If you wish to be angry, that's all up to you, but keep in mind that if you lose your temper, your wish might come true, and it would be  _you_ who is not only responsible for your brother's  _death_  but also the rest of humanity's! I expect you to be better, but being spiteful and revengeful makes you no better than her or any other god!"

"Thalia - Sis - I know," Jason said. "But this isn't the time. You should go help your Hunters." Thalia clenched her jaw.

"Fine. For you, Jason. But if you ask me, she isn't worth it."

"With that logic, neither are you," Zyanya said. Thalia huffed and turned, leaping out of the pool and storming from the building. "And you,  _Sobo_ , I expect you to at least keep your mouth shut. What's the saying? If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Especially when you're trapped in a cage and there's no time for such bickering."

"Wait, back up, intestinally challenged cows?" Audrey asked.

"Focus on the task at hand," Hera said. "And Jason - you are wiser than your sister. I chose my champion well."

"I'm not your champion, lady," Jason said. "I'm only helping you because you stole my memories and you're better than the alternative. Speaking of which, what's going on with that?" He nodded to the other spire that looked like the kind-size granite body bag.

"That, Jason, is the king of the giants reborn."

"Gross," Piper said.

"Indeed. Porphyrion, the strongest of his kind. Gaea needed a great deal of power to raise him again -  _my_ power. For weeks I've grown weaker as my essence was used to grow him a new form."

"So you're like a heat lamp," Leo suggested. "Or fertilizer."

"More like a battery," Zyanya said.

"Joke all you wish, but at sundown, it will be too late. The giant king will awake, and he will offer me a choice: marry him, or be consumed by the earth. And I cannot marry him. We will all be destroyed, and as we die, Gaea will awaken. Even you, Zyanya, shall be thrown out of balance and Gaea shall throw banish you to Tartarus, though I believe that won't be the end of it. You'll be given from Tartarus to  _it_ , and once you're gone, no heroes will rise to stop the giants or Gaea ever again."

"Understood, I know, I know."

"Can't we just blow this up or something?" Leo asked, looking at the giant's spire.

"Without me, you do not have the power. Zyanya is in hardly a condition to do so without risking that body."

"Thanks for reminding me," Zyanya muttered.

"You might as well try to destroy a mountain."

"Well…" Audrey, Emily, Zyanya (Lucy, in reality) and I said together.

"Done that once today," Jason said and we all nodded in unison.

"Just hurry up and let me out!" Hera demanded. Jason scratched his head.

"Okay, Leo, can you handle it?"

"I don't know," Leo admitted. "Besides, if she's a goddess, why hasn't she busted herself out?"

"If she could, I think she would've already," I said. "What part of, "her power has been drained" do you not understand?" Hera paced furiously around her cage, cursing in Ancient Greek.

"He is right, Leo Valdez, use your brain. I  _picked_  you because you're intelligent. Once trapped, a god's power is useless. Your own father trapped me once in a golden chair. It was humiliating! I had to beg -  _beg_  - him for my freedom and apologize for throwing him off Olympus."

"Sounds fair," Leo said. Hera gave him the godly stink-eye.

"I've watched you since you were a child, son of Hephaestus, because I knew you could aid me at this moment. If anyone can find a way to destroy this  _abomination_ , it's you."

"But it's not a machine. It's like Gaea thrust her hand out of the ground and…" He paused. "Hold on. I do have an idea. Piper, Emily, I'm going to need your help, and we're going to need time."

"That, I think we can handle," I said. Suddenly the air turned brittle with cold and the temperature dropped to the level where I could now see my breath, frost coating the walls of the Wolf House. Venti rushed in, but instead of the winged men, these were shaped like horses, with dark storm-cloud bodies and manes that crackled with lightning. Some had silver arrows sticking out of their flanks, signaling that the hunters had fought them but failed to stop them, and hopefully that didn't mean they were all dead. Behind them came red-eyed wolves and the six-armed Earthborn.

"Still think we can handle that?" Zy asked, summoning a pure white, sleek sword about five feet long. Piper, Emily and Audrey drew their daggers, Jason grabbed an ice-covered plank off the pool floor, I drew my lance, not holding back this time, and I saw Leo reach into his tool belt to pull out…a tin of breath mints. He quickly shoved it back in and pulled out a hammer instead. One of the wolves padded forward, dragging a human-sized statue by the leg. At the edge of the pool, the wolf opened its maw and dropped the statue for them to see an ice sculpture of a girl, an archer with short spiky hair and a surprised look on her face.

"Thalia!" Jason shouted, rushing forward, but the rest of us quickly held him back. The ground around Thalia's statue was already webbed with ice, and I'd wager that if Jason touched her, he might freeze too. "Who did this?!" Jason shouted, his body crackling with electricity. "I'll kill you myself!" From somewhere behind the monsters, I heard a girl's laughter, clear and cold. Uh-oh. She stepped out of the mist in her snowy white dress, a silver crown atop her long black hair. She regarded us with those deep brown eyes that seemed to shoot icicles right through my soul.

" _Good evening, my friends,_ " Khione said in French. "Alas, son of Hephaestus, you say you need time? I'm afraid time is one tool you do not have."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation
> 
> Sobo - Grandmother


	29. Fighting the Snow Goddess

First Person: Zytaveon

I thought Mount Diablo was going to be a pain, and it wasn't easy, but it really didn't seem as bad as this. We had a good deal of numbers, and I thought that the seven of us could outnumber any enemy, no matter how big. Well, when the enemy was powerful  _and_  had numbers…yeah, this wasn't gonna be fun, was it? Considering we were no more equipped than we were with Enceladus (even  _less_  equipped with Jason having lost his sword to replace it with a plank of wood), we didn't really have many tricks up our sleeves (the wolves being enough of a problem with only two of us able to harm them, the Earthborn strong, and Khione *cough* a goddess of ice), and we were sorely outnumbered with little to no plan. I wondered if Khione had a giant that was meant to counter her. That would certainly be helpful right now.

"What have you done?" Jason demanded.

"Oh, so many things," The snow goddess purred. "Your sister's not dead, if that's what you mean. She and her Hunters will make fine toys for our wolves. I thought we'd defrost them one at a time and hunt them down for amusement. Let  _them_  be the prey for once." The wolves snarled appreciatively. That was idiotic; the Hunters weren't idiots. The wolves let even just one of them run free, even if they're confident they'll win the hunt, and the Hunter will most likely survive, or not run at all, rather giving their life without a fight than let the wolves have their way. I didn't say that, knowing Khione would instantly kill them if I did, but it was so obvious.

"Yes, my dears," Khione continued, keeping her eyes on Jason. "Your sister almost killed their king, you know, along with help from that wench." Zy gave a mock-salute, happy to be acknowledged, which only made Khione's expression darken further, but apparently that was Zyanya's goal as she smirked. "Lycaon's off in a cave somewhere, no doubt licking his wounds, but his minions have joined us to take revenge for their master, and soon, Porphyrion will arise and we shall rule the world."

"Traitor!" Hera shouted. "You meddlesome, D-list goddess! You aren't worthy to pour my wine, much less rule the world!" Khione sighed.

"Tireless as ever, Queen Hera. I've been wanting to shut you up for millennia." Khione waved her hand and ice encased the prison, sealing the spaces between the earthen tendrils. "That's better. Now, demigods, about your death-"

"I'd rather burn up than be frozen by you," Zy snarled, but clearly that was more Lucy than the goddess.

"You're the one who tricked Hera into coming here," Jason realized.

"You gave Zeus the idea to close Olympus," Audrey added. The wolves snarled, and the storm spirits whinnied, ready to attack, but Khione help up her hand.

"Patience, my loves. If they want to talk, what matter? The sun is setting, and time is on our side. Of course, Jason Grace, like snow, my voice is quiet and gentle, and  _very_  cold. It's easy for me to whisper to the other gods, especially when I am only confirming their own deepest fears. I also whispered in Aeolus's ear that he should issue an order to kill demigods. It is a small service for Gaea, but I'm sure I will be well rewarded when her sons, the giants, come to power."

"Fool," I said. "When the giants rise, you will no longer be needed. Once the other gods are out of the way, Gaea won't have a purpose for you, and like it or not, you're a goddess. She'll destroy you along with all the other gods, or would you not do the same if you were in her position? Even a mortal can figure that out."

"You could've killed us in Quebec," Jason said. "Why let us live?" Khione wrinkled her nose.

"Messy business, killing you in my father's house, especially when he insists on meeting all visitors. I did  _try_ , you remember? It would've been lovely if he'd agreed to turn you to ice, but once he'd given you guarantee of safe passage, I couldn't openly disobey him. My father is an old fool. He lives in fear of Zeus and Aeolus, but he's still powerful. Soon enough, when my new masters have awakened, I will depose Boreas and take the throne of the North Wind, but not just yet. Besides, my father did have a point. Your quest was suicidal, all of them. I fully expected you to fail."

"And to help us with that, you knocked our dragon out of the sky over Detroit," Leo said.

"Those frozen wires in his head - that was all  _your_  fault," Emily agreed. "You're gonna pay for that. How dare you hurt our dragon?!"

"You're also the one who kept Enceladus informed about us," Piper added. "We've been plagued by snowstorms the entire trip!"

"Yes, I feel so close to all of you now!" Khione said. "Once you made it past Omaha, I decided to ask Lycaon to track you down so Jason could die here at the Wolf House, and the goddess there, if possible, would be a bonus. You see, Jason, your blood spilled on this sacred ground would taint it for generations. Your demigod brethren will be outraged, especially when they find out the bodies of these ones from Camp Half-Blood. They'll believe the Greeks have conspired with giants. It will be delicious…"

"You'll set demigods against demigods…" Jason realized.

"It's so easy! As I told you, I only encourage what you would do anyway."

"If you kill us, all they'll find is that the giants have turned on  _both_  them  _and_  the Greeks!" Audrey protested. "You'll turn them all against you, not against each other!"

"Perhaps,  _if_  it were left to chance, but I can push their minds in the direction I want."

"But why?" Piper asked, spreading her hands. "Khione, you'll tear the world apart. The giants will destroy everything. You don't want that. Call off your monsters."

"That's right," Emily said. "Fighting won't solve anything, and win or lose, you won't be happy in the end. If you're unhappy, about the way things are, tell me. There are better ways to go about things than the path you're going down now." Khione hesitated for a moment, but though Emily wasn't a charm speaker, she gave an aura that resisted fighting, and that, combined with Piper's order to stand down as well, made for a very strong urge to put down our weapons and get Emily to give us a counseling session. Then, Khione laughed, though it seemed slightly forced, or even relieved - as though she was happy that she could still snap herself out of it, but just barely.

"Your persuasive powers are improving, girls, but I am a goddess. You can't charm speak me. We wind gods are creatures of chaos! I'll overthrow Aeolus and let the storms run free. If we destroy the mortal world, all the better! They never honored me, even in Greek times. Humans and their talk of global warming. Pah! I'll cool them down quickly enough. When we retake the ancient places, I will cover the Acropolis is snow."

"The ancient places," Leo muttered, his eyes widening. "That's what Enceladus meant about destroying the roots of the gods. He meant Greece."

"You could join me, son of Hephaestus. I know you find me beautiful. It would be enough for my plan for the others to die. Reject that ridiculous destiny the Fates have given you, live and be my champion, instead. Your skills would be quite useful." Leo looked stunned, glancing behind him as though Khione might be talking to someone else. Then, Leo laughed so hard he doubled over.

"Yeah, join you. Right. Until you get bored of me and turn me into a Leo-sicle? Lady, nobody messes with my dragon and gets away with it. I can't believe I thought you were hot." Khione's face turned red, which you'd think wouldn't be possible for a girl of ice.

"Hot? You dare insult me? I am cold, Leo Valdez. Very, very cold." She shot a blast of wintry sleet at us, but Zy put her hand on Leo's shoulder and his arm rose, his hand held out. A wall of fire roared to life in front of us, and the snow dissolved into a steamy cloud. Leo looked surprised, but then smiled.

"See, lady, that's what happens to snow in Texas. It. Freaking. Melts." Khione hissed.

"Enough of this. Hera is failing. Porphyrion is rising. Kill the demigods. Let them be our king's first meal!" And then all of the monsters charged.

Our group was split, trying to watch out for each other, but having to focus on what was in front of us. I saw that Jason was still able to whack a wolf that charged at him pretty hard with his plank of wood. Maybe he couldn't kill the thing, but he could still give it a good smack. Zy charged at some of the storm spirit horses that charged, jumping at the last second, flipping in the air and landing on the thing's back. The horse reared, but Zy gripped it, clearly preventing it from turning to wind to escape her and then pulling on its mane, flickering with lightning. The horse bucked and neighed in protest, but she held on and merely petted it, smiling.

"Well, nice to meet you too, Thunder. Jason, care to join me?!" Jason had captured and tamed his own storm spirit, who was circling around the empty pool, its hooves causing miniature thunderstorms whenever they touched.

"Tempest?" Jason asked. "Is that your name?" The horse spirit shook its mane, evidently pleased to be recognized. "Then let's fight." Zyanya already had her horse charging through the crowds of monsters, summoning two large swords similar to the two Zantetsuken blades from Final Fantasy XIII. Funny (and ironic?) how the character that wielded the weapons was named Lightning when she was currently riding a storm spirit named Thunder (even if the ones the blades actually belonged to was named Odin. Meh. Same difference.) She plowed through the hoard of monsters, swinging her blades to the sides as they crackled with electricity, killing the Earthborn and wolves alike. She moved elegantly with the horse, as though she'd practiced fighting like the videogame character all her life. Man, she was awesome. Jason joined her, swinging his icy piece of wood at any wolves that tried to get in his way to go for the venti. Every time the horses plowed through one of their brethren, they discharged so much electricity, the other spirits vaporized into harmless clouds of mist.

Piper, Emily, and Audrey were holding their own against the Earthborn surrounding them, charming the monsters into standing down and making them forget they were supposed to kill them while Audrey went to work slicing them down with her dagger, not even needing to use her water as the Earthborn were so distracted. The girls smiled to the Earthborn even as they charged together, and the Earthborn even smiled back - at least until they were sliced apart by their daggers and melted into mounds of mud. With the Earthborn distracted, Audrey even got to practice her new power, turning to water, sinking into the ground and coming back up to strike and then disappearing a moment later. She even split her water into multiple parts to attack multiple Earthborn at once. Well, they say you learn the most about yourself in battle, at least I think so.

Leo and I had taken on Khione, me learning the ways of using my lance to fly. I charged at Khione, attacking her to be blocked my pillars of ice. She summoned ice daggers, blasts of winter air, tornados of snow, but Leo's heat and fire burnt through them all, his body flickering with red tongues of flame like he'd been doused with gasoline. I attacked her, and she blocked, but was forced to retreat with every strike. My physical attacks and Leo's fire making her attacks useless were overpowering her, and when any other monsters dared attack either of us, we struck them down, Leo using two silver-tipped ball-peen hammers and me turning them to dust upon contact, even the wolves. Leo's fire melted everything around us, countering Khione's freezing aura and probably being the only thing keeping the rest of us from being popsicles like the Hunters. Khione backed away slowly. Her expression turning both enraged but hesitant.

The others found themselves running out of enemies, the wolves disappearing, laying in heaps, or running with electricity from Zy crackling in their fur, Audrey striking down the last of the Earthborn into a pile of sludge, and Jason destroying the last ventus with Tempest. Khione's ice was useless with Leo's inferno, and the two of us advanced on her. I charged, jumping to bring my lance down on her, going a lot higher than I normally would've with the lance assisting me in countering gravity. But when I came down upon her, I was suddenly met with a blast of ice to the face. The cold bit into my skin and sent me flying back. Ice began to freeze me from the inside out, and it was frighteningly similar to that dream I'd had of the cold, the darkness, eating away at me from the inside out.

"For your insolence, boy, I will make sure your freezing will not be quick as the Hunters' had been," I heard Khione saying. "You will certainly be a wonderful addition to my collection. Go ahead, Leo Valdez. If you try to melt him now, the ice will take his soul with it."

"You're bluffing," Leo stated with hesitance.

"Am I? Care to test that?" The ice froze up down my arms and torso painfully slow, and I felt it crawling up my neck and making my vision blurry. I'm not sure if I screamed or not, but I certainly tried as the ice crawled up my head and thickened around my torso where it had started. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't feel anything yet I also could feel too much as the ice burned. My vision blackened and closed in, until the ice overtook my head completely and I was gone.

* * *

First Person: Zyanya

The boy froze over, his very soul turned to ice from the snow princess's most powerful attack. It was a last resort, used to freeze and banish a soul to oblivion. He screamed the entire time, at least until his mouth froze over and nothing could escape anyway. Once his head froze over, the rest of him stilled as the ice continued to crawl down his legs. He was going to die.

"No!" Without my consent, I felt the girl's will overtaking mine, taking control. We pointed to the goddess and suddenly turned to lightning, shooting out towards her from our mounted position on the storm spirit to shoot through the air at the speed of a lightning bolt and tackling the goddess down. We reappeared faster than the blink of an eye, our lightning traveling faster than normal with the girl's anger behind it, a large  ** _boom!_**  of thunder echoing out a moment later.

"You will pay!" We announced, though the words weren't mine, but hers. Her anger flowed through me, filling my normal emotionless self with her fury.

"You're too late," Khione choked, as we were now holding her throat with our left hand and holding up our other hand in a fist. "He's awake! And don't think you've won anything here, demigods. Hera's plan will never work. You'll be at each other's throats before you can ever stop us. And your plan will fail, goddess. That boy is as good as dead now, and even if he should live, he'll never survive what you have planned for him. Once he learns the truth, he'll hate you, and never allow you to continue." She smirked, even if she was struggling to breathe. "He'll hate you, demigod, and you will fall, goddess." I felt the girl's hesitance, her anger, her hopelessness, and Khione's whispers of her worst fears coming true.

" ** _Do not allow it to affect you,_** " I told Lucy.

" ** _But it's true. I know it is, you know it is. He will. He will hate me, resent me, he will yell, then he will run from me and never again see me as he does now. But I accepted it a long time ago. That is why I'm a worthy host, no? Because after all that, I still don't care._** "

"You know nothing," We declared. Our fist crackled with electricity and we reared back to strike the goddess. Just before we made contact, she turned to snow - a powdery white image of herself. Our fist smashed the snow woman, breaking it into a steaming mound of mush cracking with electricity. Our fist was dug into the ground, having left a crack there from the force of the blow, and electricity still coursed through our fingers.

Instantly, Lucy's mind turned back to the boy and she rushed over. What were we thinking?! We should've focused on saving him instead of destroying the goddess, and she got away, so our efforts were in vain anyway. We wasted time that could've saved him. Please don't let it be too late…Wait, those weren't my thoughts, those were hers. Doesn't care, my mental foot. She obviously cares of his opinion of her, though I still won't claim to understand why, even if she and I do share a personality. We needed him alive for our plan, either way, so I guess that's why she needs his trust. That must be it…humans are so confusing, I swear.

We kneeled down to him. Check his heart, where he was struck. She instantly agreed, and then allowed me to examine the damage. The ice latched onto his soul, the power a last resort for a goddess like Khione. No doubt she used up a lot of her remaining power in order to use the move, and using the last of it to make her escape. Were Lucy not so distracted, we might go after her and finish her off. If our souls weren't bonded so I felt the same emotions she did, I'd drag her off whether she was distracted or not. But, since we were bonded, I currently was compelled to stay and get this boy back on his feet.

" ** _The freezing process has stopped, but the ice has forced its way into his soul. Khione spoke the truth when she said to melt the ice you must also destroy his soul._** "

" ** _We can fix it, right?_** "

" ** _Not unless you wish to try and meld souls with him. The ice can only be ejected safely from the inside out, and we cannot get inside his soul where the ice is from while out here._** " But even she knew that risking a soul meld wouldn't work, and we both knew it.

" ** _So the only way to survive this, is for his soul to overpower the ice,_** " She concluded.

" ** _Yes._** " She sighed aloud.

" _Gomen'nasai_ ," Lucy muttered in Japanese.

"Can you help him?" Audrey asked.

"He can only help himself at this point," I said bluntly, while Lucy didn't seem to be paying attention. " _Hontōni gomen'nasai…_ " She said. " _Taihen sumimasen. Shite yurushi nasai._ "

" ** _Lucy…_** " I began. She couldn't get emotional, she couldn't let that affect her - us - anymore. She knew what we had to do, she knew what had to happen to him.

" ** _Shitte iru,_** " She said quietly. " ** _Shitte iru…_** "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:
> 
> Gomen'nasai - I'm sorry
> 
> Hontōni gomen'nasai - I'm really sorry
> 
> Taihen sumimasen - I'm very sorry
> 
> Shite yurushi nasai - Please forgive me
> 
> Shitte iru - I know


	30. King of the Giants

First Person: Zytaveon

I was dead. Right? I've been to the underworld before (though I was still alive at the time, of course) and I'd seen people down there that didn't look like they were in pain. This really isn't what I imagined death would be like. Man, why did it hurt so much? It was like millions of pins and needles stabbing me, I couldn't feel my limbs, I couldn't breathe, but though my body screamed for me to do so, nothing really changed. Can't I just go be judged by my dad already? He can be in a bunch of places at once! I'm sure he has at least one of him willing to come and put his son out of his misery, right? Was this Tartarus? Would I go there in a moment, but this time I wouldn't wake up? Would my soul be destroyed as well?

" ** _Please, live. Fight._** " Fight what? How? I couldn't feel my limbs. I couldn't even breathe. " ** _Your heart is stronger than this. You're soul can overcome this challenge. Focus on who you are, focus on surviving. Think of the people you know, the things you've experienced, the_** ** _emotions you've felt. Remember everything that makes you who you are, what defines your soul, and don't let anyone or anything change that. This ice can't stop you, no force can. Many fear the shadows, but you must hold them within your heart and conquer them._** "

I focused, listening to the woman's voice, and then pushed against the cold. I couldn't feel my body, but I could feel a will, my person, and I could feel it being consumed, destroyed. Focus on your soul…I did what the voice said, thinking about who I was. Well… where to start? I was a son of Hades, I had friends who turned out to be demigods as well. I wrote stories, played videogames, hated high school, could turn stuff to ash, had a lance that could fly (cool) and my dad embarrassed me with my claiming (not cool). Why the heck did he feel that was necessary, anyway? At least he also unlocked the ability to change back into my normal outfit. Wasn't I going to go to the Underworld and take up my dad's offer for a job? That's right; Emily suggested I do that to prove myself to Zyanya that I was worthy of her host. Lucy told me she was multilingual even without the goddess's help. I'd love to hear her try speaking other languages, or try other accents. I wondered about her brother. I'd love for her to tell me more about him, to be someone she could trust and open up to about it, to know something about her past. How nice it would feel, to have her trust me more than anyone else, to have that kind of connection with her. I longed to have that connection…

For a moment, I felt the weight of the cold weakening, or numbing at the least, as I got lost in random thought. When I realized that, however, the cold attacked me again. Back to zoning out! Back to zoning out! Um…Audrey had power over water! Cool! I wonder if she could talk to/control sea creatures like Aquaman. Or she could create a giant whirlpool thing like Leviathan from Final Fantasy XV (yes, I play a lot of Final Fantasy. Sue me.) I only play it because Lucy got me interested when I went to her house one day and she was playing Final Fantasy X. As a boy, I got interested and then boom - we started playing all the Final Fantasy she had together, along with other Square Enix games like Kingdom Hearts. I remember all the laughs we had as we found out fun hidden scenes, as we sung some of the songs like idiots, when we invited Audrey and Emily over and they had no idea what to make of the videogame side of us.

When I'd first met Audrey, she said I had a funny name. That was literally the first thing she said about me, honestly. Emily scolded her for saying that, but Lucy agreed. I told them to blame my parents for the name, and I'm not even sure where they got it. Hades said my mother had named me. I looked it up on the internet…and it said my name meant "created name." No idea what to make of that. Well, I'd met them in choir class and then learned we had the same lunch period right afterwards, and the next thing we know, we're sitting at the same lunch table every day. They were definitely different than the rest of the people I'd met in high school, but I liked them. Audrey and Emily said they were dyslexic, but they still seemed to read and write fine, and Audrey was even a fellow author like me. Lucy shared by characteristic of being ADHD, and we both tended to zone out on a conversation if it wasn't interesting. Overall, they'd become my best friends in ages.

Before I'd met them in high school, I didn't have many close friends. I could get along with people fine, but there wasn't really anyone that I hung around with in my free time, that I always wanted to be partners with during projects, things like that. I was fine with being alone, but that combined with my preference of dark colors thanks to being my dad's son, I started giving off an emo vibe. I didn't wear  _all_  black, mind you, but with my quiet and distant demeanor, my habit of zoning out during a conversation, and my dark attire, I tended to make people keep their distance. Son of Hades thing, I guess. I preferred being alone anyway, because it got tiring trying to keep talking on and on about things I really didn't care much for. Not to mention rumors went around that I liked hanging around graveyards and people thought I was some kind of vampire or zombie. Graveyards gave me a vibe that a son of Hades liked, okay? But apparently, Audrey, Emily and Lucy didn't care, probably because they'd seen weirder in their demigod lives.

I liked being a son of Hades, since Hades wasn't really the worst dad I could have, if any of the other gods were anything to go by. Having those characteristics of the Underworld were nice in my opinion, being able to sense the dead and such. My dad's place in the Underworld was admittedly tempting to stay at back when Hades first offered me to stay with him (he even had skeletons that he could command like servants! Awesome!) but I decided to stay in the Overworld a little longer, at least one more year, or even until I'd at least started high school to see what it was like and whether I wanted to drop out and work for my dad (because I  _was_  curious about high school, even if I absolutely hated school by that point in life). If I hadn't, I might not have met Audrey, Emily and Lucy at high school. They were what made me tolerate high school another year, then another until here we were. It was comforting that I could just run away to the Underworld and never come back if I got tired of school and didn't wanna write that essay or take that exam I totally wasn't prepared for (the teacher's fault for not teaching us right, I'm just saying), but I tolerated it for the sake of staying with my first real friends.

I haven't known they were demigods for a long time (I still don't get why they didn't tell me earlier), but somehow, I knew there was something about them that I liked and got along with. These past few days of learning this new side of them have been awesome. I imagined all the things we could do with this new side of us revealed, all the fun we could have using each other's power. Of course, would we really be the same team we were before? Lucy wasn't Lucy anymore, maybe she never was. But maybe I could get to know the real her now. Would Zyanya allow that? If I proved myself, maybe. I could try. I  _would_  try. I would succeed.

The cold ate away at me from the inside out. Even the warmth of my memories was wearing off, and the cold choked me, destroyed me. I didn't want to lose my friends, I didn't want to say goodbye now, and I didn't want my soul to fade. I wanted to see my friends again, I wanted to laugh over the stupidest things, I wanted to show them my place in the Underworld and show off, even if Audrey would act unimpressed. I wanted a chance to prove myself, I wanted to grow my powers and my person. I wanted to live. I wouldn't be destroyed here, my soul would not be eaten so easily. I was a son of Hades, and death wouldn't claim me here today.

* * *

First Person: Lucy

A moment after he stopped moving, I tried to figure out how I felt. I wanted him to live, but what fate would that condemn him to if he did? I thought I'd be fine; I'd let go of feelings so long ago. But for the first time in a long time, I had friends that I didn't want to lose. Zyanya wasn't sure if he was the one we needed, and a part of me was relieved. Not knowing if he was the right one made me happy instead of disappointed. He wouldn't have to go through that fate.

But now, his soul was being challenged. If he died, he wasn't the one we were looking for. He isn't the one who has to go through the trials ahead. While I didn't want him to have to go through that, I also didn't want him to die. I wanted to believe he was stronger than that, too stubborn to fall so easily. But if he lived…if he lived, I'd see him for longer, I'd have an excuse to stay with my best friend. Just a little longer. One more day, week, or month. At least until he found out. When he did…Well, I'd lose him one way or another. Was it selfish to want the path that led to his suffering, but gave me a moment more by his side? It probably was. But I still wanted it.

"I'm sorry. Forgive me." As if on cue, he started to melt, the ice receding as though someone had hit rewind. When the ice moved to free his mouth, his voice came out again, continuing the scream that had happened before he was cut off. He began to writhe as the ice crackled along him, and I pushed his shoulders down to keep him still. He shouted, but not in pain; It was more like a battle cry. He was fighting off the ice with pure willpower.

" ** _He is the one,_** " Zyanya said, my worst fears confirmed. I should be happy; after all this time, we'd found him. Our time was running out, and our last hope had been revealed as a positive. He was the one we needed, his soul was worthy, and now it would be so simple to proceed with the plan. But I dreaded it, what we would use him for, what we'd do to him. I didn't want that. But at the same time, I knew we had no choice.

The last of the ice condensed to his chest, where the blast of ice had initially struck him. Once it disappeared, he settled down, though I could sense his heart rate was still very high. Vitals seemed to be normalizing, temperature returning to normal, gathering his bearings - meaning he was mentally stable, though he did seem a bit confused.

"Veon?" I asked. "Can you see me? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Uh…two?"

"What's my name?"

"Which one?"

"Good enough. How many languages do I speak?"

"All of them."

"Wrong. Four." He punched me weakly on the arm as he sat up.

"That's cheating."

"Ve, don't you dare scare us like that again!" Audrey ordered, kicking him in the arm. He rubbed his arm, but didn't look very angry.

"Not my fault." There was a cracking sound behind us and we turned to see the ice on Hera's cage slough off in a curtain of slush.

"Oh, don't mind me!" Hera called. "Just the queen of the heavens, dying over here!"

"Nice to see you too,  _Sobo_ ," I muttered. The rest of us rose nonetheless, Jason dismounting Tempest, hurried into the pool and ran to the spire.

"Uh, Tía Callida?" Leo asked, frowning. "Are you getting shorter?"

"No, you dolt! The earth is claiming me! Hurry!" Hera was not only sinking, but the ground was rising like water in a tank, the liquid rock already covering her shins. That didn't leave us a lot of time. "The giant wakes! You have only seconds!"

"On it. Piper, Emily, I need your help. Talk to the cage."

"What?" Piper asked.

"Talk to it. Use everything you've got. Convince Gaea to sleep, lull her into a daze. Slow her down, try to get the tendrils to loosen."

"Got it!" Emily said before she cleared her throat. "Hey, Gaea. It's a nice night, isn't it? You know, I'm kinda tired. How about you? All this work is tiring. You should go to sleep." Piper joined in too, convincing the cage that it was a good idea to sleep, and I could feel the waves of persuasion flowing out, even if they were blocked to me thanks to Zyanya. The mud of the cage began to rise slower, and the tendrils seemed to soften a little, becoming more like tree root than rock. Leo, meanwhile, pulled a circular saw out of his tool belt, but then looked to the cord and grunted in frustration.

"I don't have anywhere to plug it in!"

"I got it," I said. I put my fingers to my mouth and whistled, and the two storm spirit horses rushed over, jumping into the pit before whining. "Take your pick."

"Really?" Jason asked. Tempest dipped his head and trotted over to Leo. Leo looked dubious, but he help up the plug and a breeze whisked it into the horse's flank. Lightning sparked, connecting with the prongs of the plug and the circular saw whirred to life.

"Sweet!" Leo grinned. "Your horse comes with AC outlets!" The good mood didn't last long, as the giant's spire on the other side of the pool crumbled with a sound like a tree snapping in half. Its outer sheath of tendrils exploded from the top down, raining stone and wood shards as the giant shook himself free and climbed out of the earth.

Porphyrion was taller than Enceladus had been, and even more ripped. He didn't radiate heat, or show any signs of breathing fire, but there was something else - a kind of strength and magnetism that showed he was the king of the giants. Like Enceladus, the giant king was humanoid from the waist up, clad in bronze armor, and from the waist down he had scaly dragon's legs, but the skin was the color of lima beans. His hair was green as summer leaves, braided in long locks and decorated with weapons - daggers, axes, and fill sized swords, some of them bent and bloody. Trophies from previous demigods. When the giant opened his eyes, they were blank white, like polished marble, and he took a deep breath.

"Alive!" He bellowed. "Praise to Gaea!" I heard Jason make a whimpering sound, the others gawking and knowing that this guy meant business.

"Keep working," I said, stepping forward. "Veon, your lance should be useful in breaking the cage. Piper, Emily, keep Gaea distracted and tired until Hera's free. Audrey, you should be able to help keep the mud still since there's a good deal of water in it. Stall it as long as you can. Jason you-"

"Are going to help you entertain a giant," He interrupted. "Even you can't take him alone." I felt Zyanya very offended from the statement, but we both knew it was true. Zyanya was weakening, and though she was still powerful, she was limited by being in my body, even if it was the only thing keeping her in as good a condition as she was in. I couldn't instantly send Porphyrion to Tartarus again in one hit, not without over doing it. Even if I could hold my own, it was gonna take some time if I wanted to defeat him. But I only needed to keep him distracted for a little while though, as the others all working on the cage should get it open within five minutes max. Man, five minutes never seemed so long (expect when you were waiting to get out of school, then it was even longer).

"Excellent! An appetizer!" Porphyrion roared as Jason and I walked forward. The others stared, clearly wanting to help us, but then I mentally commanded them to get working, and they reluctantly did. "Who are you? Hermes and Hebe? Ares and Artemis?"

"Close enough," I muttered.

"I am Jason Grace, son of Jupiter."

"I am Lucy Chikara, granddaughter to Zeus." Porphyrion examined us carefully, his white eyes boring into ours, but I didn't hesitate. I heard Leo's circular saw whirring, Veon smashing against the cage with his lance like an axe, and Piper and Emily talking the cage to sleep, slightly worrying that they'd draw Porphyrion's attention with them being so loud against the quiet battle field. We would have to keep his attention. Then, Porphyrion threw his head back and laughed.

"Outstanding! So, Zeus, you sacrifice your kin to me? The gesture is appreciated, but it will not save you." The sky didn't respond. Either Zeus wasn't listening, he didn't care and ignored everything going on here, he trusted us to handle this without him, or he knew he wasn't strong enough to help in any way so he stayed back, all possible options when it came to Zeus. Jason tossed his makeshift club to the side, and I realized I should probably get him a weapon when the fighting starts.

"If you knew who we were, you'd be worried about us, not him!" I shouted. "I hope you enjoyed your two and half minutes of rebirth, giant, because I'm going to send you right back to Tartarus!"

" ** _Should we reveal your presence?_** " I asked Zyanya mentally.

" ** _Best not until you encounter danger. Remember, you are also the daughter of Zenobia. Use that as a secret card before you use me. The earth knows our secret, and we cannot have the giant king reporting_** ** _anymore than already revealed._** " The giant's eyes narrowed and he planted one foot outside the pool and crouched to get a better look at his opponents.

"So…we'll start by boasting, will we? Just like old times! Very well, demigods. I am Porphyrion, king of the giants, son of Gaea. In olden times, I rose from Tartarus, the abyss of my father, to challenge the gods. To start the war, I stole Zeus's queen." He grinned to the goddess's cage. "Hello, Hera."

"My husband destroyed you once, monster!" Hera declared. "He'll do it again!"

"But he didn't, my dear! Zeus wasn't powerful enough to kill me. He had to rely on puny demigod help, and even then, we almost won, had it not been for the meddlesome "goddess" I am forced to call a grandmother."

" ** _Glad to know I still hold a place in your heart,_** " Zyanya said, even though she knew Porphyrion couldn't hear her.

"This time, we will complete what we started, and not even she can stand in our way. Gaea is waking, and she has provisioned us with many fine servants. Our armies will shake the earth, and we will destroy you at the roots."

"You wouldn't dare," Hera said, but I could hear the weakness in her voice. Piper and Emily were still whispering to the cage, while Leo kept sawing and Veon was trying to stab his lance through one of the tendrils, slowly making progress. Audrey was holding back the mud, but it was still rising, now just rising past Hera's knees. I had a feeling that it would be up to her waist without Audrey's interference, but she could only by so much time.

"Oh yes," The giant said. "The Titans sought to attack your new home in New York. Bold, but ineffective. Gaea is wiser and more patient. And we, her children, are much, much stronger than Kronos. We know how to kill you Olympians once and for all. You must be dug up completely like rotten trees - your eldest roots torn out and burned." The giant frowned, as if just realizing the others were working at the cage. Jason quickly stepped forward to get Porphyrion's attention again.

"You said a demigod killed you," He shouted. "How, if we're so puny?"

"Ha! You think I would explain it to you? I was created to be Zeus's replacement, born to destroy the lord of the sky. I shall take his throne, I shall take his wife - or, if she will not have me, I will let the earth consume her life force. What you see before you, children, is only my weakened form. I will grow stronger by the hour, until I am invincible. But I am already quite capable of smashing you to a grease spot!" The giant rose to his full height and held out his hand. A twenty foot speak shot out from the earth. He grasped it, then stomped the ground with his dragon's foot. The ruins shook, and all around the courtyard, monsters started to re-gather - storm spirits, wolves, and Earthborn, all answering the giant king's call.

"Great, we needed more enemies," Leo muttered.

"Hurry," Hera said.

"We know!" Veon snapped, slashing at the cage.

"Go to sleep cage," Piper said. "Nice, sleepy cage. Yes, we're talking to a bunch of earthen tendrils. This isn't weird at all!" Porphyrion raked his spear across the top of the ruins, destroying a chimney and spraying wood and stone across the courtyard.

"So, children of Zeus! I have finished my boasting. Now it's your turn. What were you saying about destroying me?" Jason looked to the ring of monsters, waiting impatiently for the cue to attack. The others were still working on the cage, but even with Audrey's interference, the cage was now half full of earth and rising slightly faster, Audrey becoming strained against the earth's will. Leo and Veon were definitely making progress, but they still needed more time.

"Jason," I whispered before summoning and passing him a sword. He looked to it for a second before taking it.

"I am the son of Jupiter!" Jason shouted, beginning to rise off the ground as he summoned the wind. Totally for effect, and a bit cheesy had this not been such a bad situation, but it was, and it was certainly going to help in winging it against the giant. "I'm a child of Rome, consul to demigods, praetor of the First Legion." He held out his arms, showing the tattoo of the eagle and SPQR, and the giant recognized it, looking slightly uneasy. "I slew the Trojan sea monster, I toppled the black throne, and destroyed the Titan Krios with my own hands. And now, I'm going to destroy you, Porphyrion, and feed you to your own wolves!"

" ** _Feel like joining him, my host?_** " Zyanya asked.

" ** _Didn't you_** **just** ** _say I should not to go throwing information around about us?_** "

" ** _What can I say? Humans are a bad influence on me._** "

" ** _That's why you love us._** " I let electricity course through me and began to fly up to join Jason's side, summoning a lance about six feet in length, pure white.

"I am the daughter of Zenobia! Host to the goddess now known as Zyanya! Granddaughter to Zeus  _and_ granddaughter to Apollo! I've slain your kind before, Porphyrion, and even you yourself long ago! "You dare to raise your soul against god himself?! You shall burn in his light!" Come, Porphyrion! Show me what power you think you have against me in my realm!" I raised my lance above my head as it glowed with Zyanya's power emerging. Sure, I just used a quote referring to a male god, while I was female, but Zyanya was, in reality, gender neutral and her entire personality, name, gender, etc. was just my creation (the alias used merely because it was dangerous to refer to her true form all the time), so screw the rules. I reared back my lance and then raised it to charge at the king of the giants.

Porphyrion held up his spear to intercept my weapon, but even though I was in the air and had no ground to push against and was far smaller than him, we pushed against each other on equal grounds. Or not so equal, as I pushed further and he began to slid back in the ground. The goddess's power was flowing through me at a healthy rate, our body and souls converging to that sweet spot that we so rarely could ever find, meaning I wasn't overstraining myself, but still had access to the maximum amount of power the goddess could give me. I knew this wouldn't last long, but I relished in these few moments of perfection between us. Jason, meanwhile, took the opportunity to fly/leap at the giant, climbing up the giant's arm and raised his sword as he approached the giant's shoulder.

"For Rome!" He aimed his sword for the nearest convenient target - the giant's massive ear. Lightning suddenly struck out of the sky and blasted the sword, throwing Jason back, along with me, but I stayed in the air and saw Jason rolling to his feet when he hit the ground. The giant was staggering, his hair on fire and the side of his face blackened from lightning. I didn't do that. Did Jason mean to do that? Jason's sword had splintered into the giant's ear from the strike, and I realized I might want to consider being more careful when lending this kid weapons. Golden ichor ran down Porphyrion's jaw, the other weapons in his hair sparking and smoldering in his braids.

Porphyrion almost fell, and the circle of monsters let out a collective growl, beginning to move forward all fixed on Jason. I quickly flew above Jason and then raised my lance before bringing it down, falling from my position in the sky to stab my weapon into the ground right next to Jason. The moment the weapon hit the earth, it let out a shockwave web of lightning in all directions around us, careful to avoid Jason, but incinerating the monsters closest. Any of the monsters that were far enough back stayed that way, now realizing they were a bit in over their heads. I should've been able to incinerate them all, easy, but there were still a good amount of them remaining and more spawning…that was worrying. Don't let weakness show, I reminded myself.

"You want to play with lightning, children?" Porphyrion asked, his spear beginning to glow. "You forget, I am the bane of Zeus. Your body is weak, goddess, I can sense it from here that you are far from your strongest and only growing weaker. As your body is a descendant of Zeus, I know exactly how to destroy both him and you both." I felt Zyanya's power boost wearing off, and my own powers lowering back to normal. Great. I could still work with my own powers, having practiced working without the goddess over the years, but who knew if it would be enough against Porphyrion? If Zyanya and I pushed it, we'd be able to keep our power high for a battle with the giant, but it wasn't gonna be easy.

The giant raised his spear and brought it down, but now he had leverage and my power was waning. I managed to hold up my lance to intercept, but I was dug into the ground from the force, Jason being thrown back from the shockwave of the clash. Fatigue was hitting me, and my arms shook under the force being put upon me. I took a deep breath and connected with Zyanya again, but she was also fatigued and falling from her energy high. Concentrating, the two of us summoned enough power to hold back the giant, but it was probably a bad idea to have done a clash when we were at a disadvantage. We should've rolled out of the way and then attacked again. That would've lowered our energy expenditure and allowed us to get into a zen of fighting again. I hate it when I realize what I should've done only  _after_  it's too late.

"We got it!" Veon and Leo announced together.

"SLEEP!" Piper and Emily shouted together with so much force that even I felt drowsy, the nearest wolves falling on the ground and beginning to snore. The stone and wood cage crumbled, Leo and Veon having teamed up to cut through the base of the thickest tendril and apparently cutting off the cage's connection to Gaea, the tendrils turning to dust and the mud around Hera disintegrating. The goddess grew in size, glowing with power once more.

"Yes!" She said. She threw off her black robes to reveal a white gown, her arms bedecked with golden jewelry. Her face was both terrible and beautiful, something I was getting used to with the gods, and a golden crown glowed in her long black hair. "Now I shall have my revenge!" Porphyrion backed away, and I leaned on my lance, happy to have been released of the force but really tired. He said nothing, but gave me and Jason a look of hatred.  _Another time_. Then he slammed his spear against the earth, and the giant disappeared into the ground like he'd dropped down a chute. If I weren't so worn out, Zyanya and I both would've gone after him, but we weren't and didn't care where he went, as long as he didn't come back for now. Zyanya would never admit weakness, but she and I were bonded, so right now, who cared? The remaining monsters began to retreat, realizing that their leader just ran away so it was hopeless, but there was no escape for them.

"Cover your eyes, my heroes!" Hera shouted, glowing brighter.

"Crap," I muttered as Hera went supernova, exploding in a ring of force that vaporized every monster instantly. Her power flowed through me too, burning my already delicate body and overloading it with power while I was low on control of it. A burning sensation overtook me instantly, searing not only my body, but my mind, and my thoughts were burnt away before I could even scream.


	31. Returning to Camp

First Person: Zytaveon

She was burning, her skin sizzling, her eyes open but pure white, her mouth open as though to scream. She was still moving, but it was like she was being electrocuted as she jerked wildly, probably from some kind of overload. "Audrey! Water!" She instantly complied and doused Zy with her bottle of water, but it instantly sizzled and evaporated. Zy suddenly sat up, taking a deep breath. Her eyes remained pure white, but expression returned to her face as she turned her head in Hera's direction.

"Hera! I was handling the situation! That was completely unnecessary, and nearly risked the life of my host!" Hera shrunk back to her normal size, changing back to her simple black robes and shawl.

"I'd think your host would be able to handle such power, considering  _you_  chose her." Zy suddenly stiffened and took a deep breath, her eyes glowing gold before then fading to reveal her normal brown eyes again.

"Of course I can," Lucy said weakly, the goddess retreating out of her. "But I admit, that's not something I wanna go through again. What were we talking about again?" I quickly hugged her.

"My gods, you scared the skeletons out of me!"

"Yep, yep. By the way, I may have a goddess within me, but I still need to breathe!"

"Oh, sorry."

"Jason?!" Piper shouted. "Jason!" Lucy suddenly went on alert, becoming more goddess than human. Zyanya and the rest of us walked over to find Jason's body steaming like Zyanya had been, his eyes rolled back in his head. Piper was holding him, and had been for a couple minutes. He and Zy had been the only two to have not covered their eyes in time when Hera had gone nuclear, but based on the aftereffects, she'd hit this place hard. Every vestige of winter was gone from the valley, no signs of battle remaining either and the monsters vaporized. The ruins had been restored to what they were before - still ruins, but with no evidence that they'd been overrun by a horde of wolves, storm spirits and six-armed ogres. Even the Hunters had been revived from their ice stasis, most waiting at a respectful distance in the meadow, but Thalia walked up and knelt by Piper and Zyanya's side, putting her hand on Jason's forehead while Zy checked his pulse and if he was breathing.

"This is your fault, do something!" Thalia demanded, glaring at the goddess.

"Do not address me that way, girl," Hera said. "I am the queen-"

"Fix him!" Hera's eyes flickered with power.

"I  _did_  warn him. I would never intentionally hurt the boy. He was to be my champion. I told them to close their eyes before I revealed my true form."

"Um…true form is bad, right?" Leo asked, frowning. "So why did you do it?"

"I unleashed my power to  _help_  you, fool! I became pure energy so I could disintegrate the monsters, restore this place, and even save these miserable Hunters from the ice."

"Appreciated, but still unnecessary," Zy muttered.

"But mortals can't look upon you in that form!" Thalia shouted. "You've killed him!"

"So is that what our prophecy meant?" I asked. "Death unleashed through Hera's rage."

"Come on, lady, you're a goddess," Leo said. "Do some voodoo magic on him! Bring him back."

"Veon, can you do anything?" Audrey asked.

"Hey, even Hades can't just go around reviving people because he wants to," I said. "Besides, I'm a death guy, not a healer. I don't revive, I destroy."

"He's breathing!" Piper announced.

"Impossible," Hera said. "I wish it were true, child, but not mortal has ever-"

"Jason? Listen to me. You can do this. Come back. You're going to be fine."

"Healing is not a power of Aphrodite. Even I cannot fix this, girl. His mortal spirit-"

"I still in there," I said. "I usually sense something when someone dies, but…though it's faint, I swear his soul hasn't left yet. Maybe I missed it, but…"

"Hm, he might still be revivable," Zy said. She pulled out a glowing feather out of nowhere that looked like it had been doused with pixie dust. It was red at the base, mostly orange at the center, and yellow at the tips that elegantly swirled. She tossed it above Jason's head and it slowly floated down to absorb into him the moment it touched. He glowed and a pillar of light appeared above him for a moment. When it and the light faded only seconds later, Jason suddenly gasped, his eyes flying open. For a moment they were full of light, glowing pure gold. Then the light faded and his eyes returned to normal, resembling what happened to Lucy.

"What…what happened?" He asked.

"Impossible!" Hera said, while Piper wrapped her arms around Jason in a hug until he groaned.

"Crushing me."

"Sorry," She said relieved, laughing while she wiped a tear from her eye.

"Pulse is normalizing," Zyanya reported. "Body temperature returning to normal. Brainwaves seem to be functioning at normal capacity." Thalia gripped her brother's hand.

"How do you feel?"

"Hot," He muttered. "Mouth is dry. And I saw something…really terrible."

"That was Hera. Her Majesty, the Loose Cannon."

"That's it, Thalia Grace," The goddess said. "I will turn you into an aardvark, so help me-"

"No fighting, you two," Audrey said. Surprisingly, both of them, even Hera, shut up. Piper helped Jason to his feet while Zy gave him a glass of water (that seemingly just appeared in her hand magically) and said it was lined with a ratio of nectar, to both hydrate and heal.

"Hera, Your Majesty, we couldn't have rescued you without the Hunters help," Emily said. "And Thalia, you never would've seen Jason again - none of us would've met him - if it weren't for Hera. You both can have your anger, you're entitled to your opinion and feelings, but arguing and fighting won't solve anything. Thalia, please don't try and start a fight with every sentence, and Hera, no aardvark-ing, please."

"Yeah," Piper agreed. "Hera was trying to help us, Thalia, and destroyed all the enemies, restored the ruins, scaring off Porphyrion. Hera, if it wasn't for Thalia and the Hunters, we may not have made it in time and wouldn't have survived the ambush by Khione. You two make nice because we've got bigger problems." The Hunter and the goddess glared at the girls, and Piper looked between them, as though wondering which would kill them first, while Emily smiled at both of them as if she didn't notice. Finally, Thalia grunted.

"You've got spirit, the lot of you." She pulled out a few silver cards from her parka, tucking one into the pocket of Piper's snowboarding jacket and passing one to Emily and Audrey each. "You ever want to be a Hunter, call me. We could use you." Hera crossed her arms.

"Fortunately for  _this_  Hunter, you have a point, daughter of Aphrodite. You wondered, Piper, why I chose you for this quest, why I didn't reveal your secret in the beginning, even when I knew Enceladus was using you. I must admit, until this moment, I was not sure. Something told me you would be vital to the quest. Now I see I was right. And I also see why Zyanya would chose you as an ally for her group of heroes, Emily. You are both stronger than I realized. And you are correct about the dangers to come. We must work together."

"Yeah, I don't suppose that Porcupine guy just melted and died, huh?" Audrey asked.

"No. By saving me and saving this place, you prevented Gaea from waking. You have bought us some time, but Porphyrion has risen. He simply knew better than to stay here, especially since he has not yet regained his full power. Giants can only be killed by a combination of god and demigod working together, and once you freed me-"

"He ran away," Jason concluded. "But to where?"

"Porphyrion said something about killing the Olympians by pulling up their roots," I said. "Greece."

"I need to find Annabeth," Thalia said. "She has to know what's happened here."

"Thalia…" Jason began, gripping her hand. "We never got to talk about this place, or-"

"I know. I lost you here once; I don't want to leave you again, but we'll meet soon. I'll rendezvous with you back at Camp Half-Blood." She glanced at Hera. "You'll see them there safely? It's the least you can do."

"It's not your place to tell me-"

"Queen Hera?" Emily and Piper interceded together. The goddess sighed.

"Fine. Yes. Just off with you, Hunter!" Thalia gave Jason a hug and said her goodbyes. When the Hunters were gone, the courtyard seemed strangely quiet. The dry reflecting pool showed no sign of the earthen tendrils that had brought back the giant king or imprisoned Hera, the night sky was clear and starry, and the wind rustled in the redwoods. It was nice and peaceful, and with the quest over and all of us intact, it felt like a giant weight lifted off my shoulders, even if I knew in the back of my mind that this was only the beginning.

"Jason, what happened to you here?" Piper suddenly asked. "I mean, I know your mom abandoned you here, but you said it was a sacred ground for demigods. Why? What happened after you were on your own?" Jason shook his head uneasily.

"It's still murky. The wolves…"

"You were given a destiny," Hera said. "You were given into my service." Jason scowled.

"Because you forced my mom to do that. You couldn't stand knowing Zeus had two children with my mom, knowing that he'd fallen for her  _twice_. I was the price you demanded for leaving the rest of my family alone."

"It was the right choice for you as well, Jason. The second time your mother managed to snare Zeus's affections, it was because she imagined him in a different aspect - the aspect of Jupiter. Never before had this happened - two children, Greek and Roman, born into the same family. You  _had_  to be separated from Thalia. This is where all demigods of your kind start their journey."

"Of his kind?" Emily asked.

"Roman," Zyanya said. "Demigods are left here. They meet the she-wolf goddess, Lupa, the same immortal that raised Romulus and Remus. If you're strong enough, you live."

"But…what happened after that?" Leo asked. "Jason never made it to camp."

"Not Camp Half-Blood, no."

"You went somewhere else, another save haven for demigods," I said. "That's where you've lived all this time. But where is it?"

"The memories are coming back, but not the location," Jason said. "I don't suppose you're going to tell me, are you?"

"No," Hera said. "That is part of your destiny, Jason. You must find your own way back. But when you do, you will unite two great powers. You will give us hope against the giants, and more importantly, against Gaea herself."

"You want us to help you, but your holding back information."

"Giving the answers makes those answers invalid," Zy said. "Your heart must figure things out on its own, grow and build of your own strength. If we are all given the answers, then we haven't truly learned anything, have we? You must forge your own path for it to mean anything."

"Already you three have surprised me," Hera said. "I would not have thought it possible…" She shook her head. "Suffice to say, you have performed well, demigods. But this is only the beginning. Now you must return to Camp Half-Blood, where you will begin planning for the next phase."

"Which you won't tell us about," Jason grumped. "And I suppose you destroyed our nice storm spirit horses, so we'll have to walk home?" Hera waved aside the question.

"Storm spirits are creatures of chaos. I didn't destroy those two, though I have no idea where they went, or whether you'll see them again. But there is an easier way home for you. As you have done me a great service, I can help you - as least this once. Farewell, demigods, for now."

"Hold on to your lunches, people," Zyanya said before the world turned upside down and my vision blurred. My mind spun, and it felt like I was blacking out from the snow goddess's curse again, except I just barely managed to keep conscious. When I could see straight again, I saw we were back at camp, in the dining pavilion, in the middle of dinner, standing on the Aphrodite cabin's table (Piper having a foot in Drew's pizza). Sixty campers rose at once, gawking at us in astonishment.

"Wait for it," Zy said before Leo jumped off the table, ran to the nearest bronze brazier and threw up in it - not a great burnt offering for the gods, I assume. "And, there it is. At least one person, every time." I squeezed my left thumb and held down my gag reflex, but quickly moved off the table to sit down. I'd shadow traveled before, and the first few times it had been exhausting and possibly a bit nauseating, but this was far worse.

"Jason?" Chiron asked, trotting forward. No doubt the old centaur had seen thousands of year's worth of weird stuff, but even he was flabbergasted. "What…How…?"

"Hi," Piper said as casually as she could. "We're back."

"How've y'all been?" Audrey asked.

The rest of the night was just as tiring as the quest itself. We had to recount the story, and then answered a million questions from the other campers. Chiron finally saw how tired we were, and then ordered us to bed. Emily went with Piper back to the Aphrodite cabin, but Audrey was allowed to come with Zy and I to the Hades cabin since otherwise all of us would be alone. Why not put all the relatives of the great three in one cabin?

"Why don't you go stay with Jason in the Zeus cabin?" I asked Zy.

"Why? Don't want me with you?"

"No, no. I mean, yes, but…whatever. You're a granddaughter of Zeus, right? And he'll be alone if you don't."

"Jason's a big boy. Besides, I can chose which cabin I stay in. Zyanya gives me overruling authority."

"Didn't you say you were a granddaughter of Apollo, too?" Audrey asked, giving a weird-ed out face. Zy sighed as though she got the question a lot.

"Yes, but not  _that_  way. The gods are weird, but not  _that_  weird. My mother was full goddess, a daughter of Zeus, my father a half-blood son of Apollo. Zeus is more of a big-shot, so everyone refers to me as his granddaughter, neglecting both my mother and my relation to Apollo as well. It's really a shame. Apollo's traits allow me both medical and musical experience, and my mother allows me to utilize those abilities to their fullest."

"Who's your mother again?" I asked.

"Zenobia, a child of Hera and Zeus. She's a goddess of…well, power, I guess you could say. As her daughter, I naturally have the ability to channel all kinds of energy, and with a lot of effort, even mold matter itself, though it's not easy and I've only ever done it once. By touching or focusing on someone, I can amplify their powers, and my relation to her raises all of  _my_  other powers naturally as well, making my lightning and my healing a notch above normal. I can stretch my powers to limits and beyond, and I believe that's why Zyanya chose me as a host." We made it to the Hades cabin and went inside. She snapped her fingers and the torches on the walls began to glow with green fire. She  _had_  to teach me how to do that.

"So, you're last name isn't Neal, but Chikara?" I asked. She sighed, but it was with a smile, as though she was congratulating us for paying attention to her so well.

"Yes. It means power in Japanese, courtesy and in honor of, my mother. Both my first and last names were given to me by my adoption parents, but while I was on the run, I figured why not name myself?"

"What did you give yourself as a first name?"

"Ha, funny story. Uh…well, Zyanya. When the goddess came along, she needed a name, since I really shouldn't go around boasting about her presence and throwing her name around, and we agreed she would be Zyanya, and I would be Lucy. Now, about these beds." She snapped and the first three beds of about eight down the cabin transformed from coffins (seriously, what were the designers thinking?) and into three queen sized beds. Awesome. "Now, here are your bags with an extra change of clothes." She passed each of us our backpacks (out of nowhere once again, since I'm sure I lost mine back fighting Enceladus) and then shoved me towards the bathroom.

This place was all black with obsidian, and I had to admit the cabin had a nice feel to it, something a son of Hades like me could get used to. The first time I'd crashed here, I'd been too angry at my dad to appreciate the place. I may actually go to the Underworld with my dad after all. I liked that feeling of death, and it  _would_  be a good opportunity to train my powers properly. Maybe Audrey, Emily and Zy could visit me often and then can keep me up to date on life at Camp Half-Blood. Zy said we had a little while before the next quest, so we'd might as well use the time wisely.

Through all the life threatening stuff, I think I'm beginning to like the prospect of accepting the demigod not-so-normal life full time. I'd stayed in middle and then high school because I liked being around normal people, having the secret of my origins behind me, but also being different than the people around me. Now, I was at a camp full of others with special talents like me, thrown into a danger filled world of quests and mysteries, and I thought that by fully embracing my life as a demigod, I'd miss normalcy, but right now, I didn't miss it at all, no matter what challenges lied ahead of me. I would face it, I would get through it, and I would enjoy it. Not everyone woke up to be a demigod (maybe for the better considering all the bad luck we have) but if I have a chance to have fun with it, I should take it. I'd have my friends by my side, and I was finally going to embrace the person I was.

"Veon, hurry it up!" Audrey shouted from outside. "If we're gonna share a cabin, if even for a night, you are  _not_  allowed to hog the bathroom! I don't care if this is your dad's cabin or not!" I smiled and hurried to change into some pajamas (just some black pants and a gray T-shirt) Zy put into the backpack for me (those hadn't been in there before, but I wasn't complaining) and hurried back out.

"Okay, okay, but girls take a lot more time in the bathroom than guys do."

"Not true. At least not for me, anyway."

"Yeah, you chose the kind of friends that don't really spend hours on their makeup, Ve," Zy said, lying on her bed in a pair of yoga pants and a gray T-shirt. I flopped down on my bed, realizing just how tired I was after all that had happened.

"Goodnight," I said, my voice muffled by the pillow, as I fully intended to pass out like that.

"Night, sweetheart," Zyanya said, and I smiled into the pillow at her, though she couldn't see.

Yeah, I was gonna enjoy life as a demigod, for sure.


	32. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning, mostly fluff in this chapter. Thanks to readers who follow or who just stumble across the story by accident. Please review to help me improve the story with comments, suggestions or questions.

First Person: Emily

I woke the next morning to find everyone gathered at Piper's bed, glaring down at her with their arms crossed. I walked over, to see Piper just waking up, and I worried that she'd freak or fail under pressure now that we were back in the Aphrodite cabin. We'd left for the quest to avoid them last time, and then we'd fallen asleep last night almost instantly, worn out from the journey and avoiding any conversations with our cabin mates once more. A lot of the Aphrodite kids were good people, I could sense it, but under Drew, they weren't strong enough to do as they pleased, speak their minds of her unfairness. I hoped that they weren't going to all attack Piper and make our stay at Camp Half-Blood miserable. No way would I stand for that.

Then again, Piper had grown during our quest, so I shouldn't be worried about her. I  _wasn't_  worried about her. Drew wasn't going to bother us anymore. We'd been on a quest, we knew more than her whether she'd been at this cabin longer or not. Piper was one of the Great Prophecy of Seven, and I was a part of some other quest that I had yet to know about. All I knew was that I was assigned to look after and protect the demigods of the prophecy, and that was a great honor in itself. I would prove I was worthy of being chosen by Zyanya as both a member of her group that protected the seven, and also as her friend.

"Morning," Piper said, sitting up and smiling. "Beautiful day." I smiled and sat down next to her on her bed.

"Sleep well?" I asked casually.

"Yeah. You?"

"Yep."

"You're going to make us late for breakfast," Drew said, "which means  _you_  get to clean the cabin for inspection." A week ago, I knew Piper would've either punched Drew in the face or hidden under the covers, but Piper just smiled before laughing. We'd been through more than enough to be threatened by cleaning duty, and we weren't gonna take it just because Drew was in charge here. Drew's smug expression crumbled, and she backed up before remembering she was supposed to be angry.

"What are you-?"

"Challenging you," Piper said. "How about noon in the arena? You can choose the weapons." I stared at Piper before smiling and nodding in approval. Of course. Piper wouldn't just sit back and let Drew's reign continue, whether she was affected by it or not. Piper stood and stretched leisurely, beaming at her cabin mates. She spotted the two kids who'd been nice to Piper and I before the quest - Mitchell and Lacy. They were smiling tentatively, their eyes flitting from Piper to Drew like this might be a very interesting tennis game.

"Hey guys! We missed you!" Piper announced. "We're going to have a great time when I'm senior counselor." Drew turned bug juice red, even her closest lieutenants looking nervous. This obviously wasn't in their script.

"You…!" Drew spluttered. "You ugly little witch! I've been here the longest! You can't just-!"

"Challenge you?" I asked. "Sure, she can, miss Drew. Camp rules: she's been claimed by Aphrodite. She's completed a quest, one more that  _you've_  completed. If she feels she can do a better job, she can challenge you."

"Unless you wanna step down," Piper suggested casually. "Did we get that all right, Mitchell?"

"Just right, guys!" Mitchell said grinning. Lacy was bouncing up and down like she was trying to achieve liftoff, and I could feel her waves of hope, joy and excitement practically oozing out of her. A few of the other kids started to grin, as if they were enjoying the different colors Drew's face was turning.

" _Step down?!_ " Drew shrieked. "You're crazy!" Piper shrugged, and I sensed her plan even before it happened. Still sitting on her bed, fast as a viper, I reached under her pillow and grabbed Katoptris, unsheathing the dagger and then tossing her the weapon. She caught it and then thrust the point under Drew's chin, the process smooth as can be, considering we hadn't rehearsed or even planned that. Everybody else backed up fast, one guy crashing into a makeup table and sending up a plume of pink powder. I resisted the strong urge to go help clean that up right now, deciding I'd do it once Piper was done. We hadn't meant to make a mess, after all.

"A duel then," Piper said cheerfully. "If you don't want to wait until noon, now is fine. You've turned this cabin into a dictatorship, Drew, Silena Beauregard knew better than that." Silena was the former head of this cabin that had died previously in a war in August, leaving Drew in charge because she was the oldest. Drew had previously claimed that Silena was a fool and had secretly passed information to Kronos during the Titan war, losing the way of Aphrodite. But the others stated that Silena was a hero, sacrificing her life to make things right. Apparently, the rite of passage for an Aphrodite child was to get someone together and then break them apart, but Piper and I declared that wasn't what Aphrodite was about, and Drew said we were like Silena in that matter. She'd fallen in love with someone and then  _stayed_  in love. Things hadn't ended tragically for her just because she loved in the right way, because she was brave and fought instead of staying behind to be protected because she was worried about getting her hands dirty and her makeup ruined.

"Aphrodite isn't about breaking people's hearts," I declared. "Love is about happiness, finding people in your life you can't live without, whether they be friends or sweethearts. Cruelty, giving people the happiness of love only to take it away, doesn't do anything good, especially when it's deliberate and your  _goal_  is for someone to be unhappy. It doesn't represent what love is. Love is fighting that cruelty, being willing to stand by someone no matter what happens, no matter what threatens to tear them apart. It's bonding friends and family forever, giving people strength in their hearts to go on no matter what, to chose the right thing when push comes to shove. And maybe sometimes it doesn't end well, and it doesn't work out, but…that's okay. Sometimes it's just…fate that threatens to break love apart, and it won't always end well. But we should be the ones picking someone up when that happens, keeping love in someone's heart no matter what tries to destroy it."

"Aphrodite is about love and beauty," Piper continued. " _Being_  loving.  _Spreading_  beauty. Good friends. Good times. Good deeds. Not just looking good. Silena made mistakes, but in the end, she stood by her friends. That's why she was a hero. I'm going to set things right, and I've got a feeling Mom will be on my side. Want to find out?" Drew went cross-eyed looking down the blade of Piper's dagger. A second of silence passed. Then two. But neither Piper nor I cared. I could sense Piper absolutely happy and confident, making me the same and showing it to the others with the smile on our faces. This was the Piper we needed here in this cabin.

"I…step down," Drew grumbled. "But if you think I'm ever going to forget this, McLean-"

"Oh, I hope you won't," Piper said. "Now, run along to the dining pavilion and explain to Chiron why we're late. There's been a change of leadership." Drew backed to the door, and even her closest lieutenants didn't follow her. "Oh, and Drew, honey?" The former counselor looked back reluctantly., just about to leave. "In case you think I'm not a true daughter of Aphrodite, don't even  _look_  at Jason Grace. He may not know it yet, but he's  _mine_. If you even try to make a move, I will load you into a catapult and shoot you across Long Island Sound." Drew turned around so fast she ran into the doorframe, and then she was gone.

The cabin was silent and the other campers stared at Piper. I could sense Piper's sudden unease. She didn't want to rule through fear like Drew, but would they accept her? Knowing what needed to happen to make her feel better, I took Piper's arm reassuringly and then whooped as loud as I could, pumping a fist into the air. The other Aphrodite members cheered right after and joined me so loudly, we must've been heard all across the camp. But who cared? Piper was the new leader of this cabin, she had courage she never believed was possible before, and in turn gave her cabin mates that confidence as well. They herded Piper out of the cabin, raised on their shoulders, and carried her to the dining pavilion, Piper feeling better than ever.

By the afternoon, I was hanging out with Piper celebrating her victory. We weren't settled into the camp, so we really didn't have a routine yet, but after leading the Aphrodite through their morning routine, it was a good time for a break. Some of the buzz on her victory had faded because she had an appointment at the Big House.

"Good luck, Piper," I said as I walked her there. "I know you and your dad will be fine."

"Thanks Emily. Well, here I go." She took a deep breath as she headed to the Big House and followed Chiron inside. I watched her go with a smile, knowing that she and her dad still had a connection even if he didn't remember the last week of his life and Piper being a hero. She was still a hero in his eyes, and he was still a hero in hers. I wasn't worried.

I sighed and was about to go looking for Veon, Audrey, and Zy, when I saw someone walking to the eternal fire thing in the camp. She was wearing a dress and shawl, similar to the one Hera had worn, and had a kind of aura to her that I couldn't ignore. I was instantly drawn to her, and as I got closer I saw she was elegant, with that signature…difference that came with a god/goddess. I knew she wasn't a mortal or a demigod. She was a goddess. A goddess just walking around Camp Half-Blood? They did say that the leader of the camp had been Dionysus before Olympus closed, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.

"Hello, uh, ma'am," I said. She looked to me and I could see a gentleness to her face as she smiled.

"Hello, Emily." She knew my name. Of course, she did, she was a goddess, duh. Oh, what was I supposed to say to her? I didn't have a plan about what to talk about!

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Merely visiting. Fire, a hearth, representing a home. That is what this place is meant to be, a home where demigods who don't fit in anywhere else can find sanctuary."

"But isn't there somewhere else? The place where Jason is from?"

"Yes. A home can be anywhere, and this camp is not the only home for most. It isn't the home you had before, but I hope it's enough. You and your friends' families have all been informed of your location, and your origins. They should be Iris-Messaging at the end of the day to speak." I smiled. My dad would be worried about me if he had been told about my being a demigod, along with the others' families, but at least now they weren't worried about us being missing, knowing that we were okay and could contact us through Iris-Messaging.

"Thank you, ma'am," I said quickly, jumping for joy. Tonight I should get together the others so that we can all talk together. Or maybe it'd be best for one on one talks with our respective families. Whatever we did, we'd be able to see our families, tell them of our powers and our adventures, and have a great reunion.

"It is no trouble, Emily." She stepped closer and spoke quietly. "I refused to allow Aphrodite to sway or influence me when it came to the other gods, but I'm glad she did just once with your father, and that she's taken you in despite my resisting her for so long. I am no mother, I never planned to be, and to the world, I never can be, but I will try from afar. A home will follow you wherever you go,  _I_  will follow you wherever you go. I'm proud of you, and what I know you will one day become. Stay by your friends and be their home, their shield that will always be there to protect them when they're in need. Keep them together, keep them smiling, and never lose sight of your path. If you ever feel lost, know that the safety of home will always stay with you to guide you. Oh, and be sure to call Aphrodite your mother should you meet her. Remember, she adopted you with her claiming. I know I can never do that, but I hope my blessing is enough." I stared in awe. So this  _was_  my mother. It was her, really her, and…I was her daughter, whether the world knew it or not.  _I_  knew it, and that was enough.

"Emily!" Piper shouted. I jumped and realized that Hestia had vanished. I felt a weird tingle within me, maybe just chills from actually meeting her, having her tell me she fell in love with my dad when all the other gods weren't good enough for her, tell me that she would always watch over me. In my hand, I found a pendant with an image of a hearth carved into it. I smiled and slipped the chain around my neck before slipping the pendant under my shirt. It felt good, having a piece of my mom with me.

"Hey, Piper, how'd it go?" I asked. She smiled.

"It went great. Dad's recovering after what happened, and even though he doesn't remember, well…you know."

"You're still his hero, Piper." She smiled as though the thought was still unbelievable.

"Right. Jane was fired, and his disappearance and memory loss has been blamed on her, and you were so right when it came to Mellie! She got Jane's job and she's doing great. Not to mention dating Hedge apparently, but, you know. You do you, guys. Hedge is apparently dad's "life coach" and so they're doing great and seeing each other every day. Dad even called Hedge a "godsend." Hard to believe, huh?" I laughed and nodded. "Oh, and apparently that pilot got a new helicopter to replace the one we busted, and she was offered to fly for my dad, as compensation for what we did. And Hedge also explained that I'm not in the Wilderness School and at camp, and he's good with it, so at least he's not wondering where I am. It was great, Emily. Even though it only lasted like a minute. He's doing so well and is so proud of me. He and my grandpa said I had a powerful voice, but now I see it on a whole new light, you know?"

We walked to the commons area as Piper eagerly continued, and I listened to every word, happy that she was so happy. Piper had always been worrying over both her father and the quests, ever since I'd met her. It was great to see such a bright side of her. Plus, I could feel her excitement and joy, which was making me just as happy in turn. At the commons area, we saw Jason relaxing on a bench with Zy sitting next to him, examining the various scars and bruises from the quest. Jason was sweaty from working, and was in an orange tank top and shorts. Odd how he seemed so normal looking after what we'd been through literally yesterday. Zy moved her finger to touch one of his last scars and it faded.

"There, that should do it. Now, you can play basketball to your heart's content without worry about making these things worse. Why didn't you come to the infirmary sooner and have these things checked out? You realize they could get infected, right? Or you could tear these big cuts open and end up bleeding to death in your sleep. As a granddaughter of Apollo and a great healer, I could go on for ages of your stupidity and carelessness. I'll let you off the hook this time just because you've become my friend, but try not to have this happen again, especially if the injuries are drastic. No heroics when it comes to being hurt."

"You're overreacting. They're just a few cuts and bruises."

"You're  _under-reacting_. Always think things are worse than they are, or you're gonna go to battle one day and realize too late that you're in worse condition than you thought and get yourself killed. Oh, hey Piper, Emily. Emily, come with me. You're next on my list for a checkup."

"But I'm invincible, how would…?" She moved her eyes to Jason and then Piper and I understood. "Actually, could you see if that teleporting trip from Hera did anything? I can suddenly get dizzy every now and then."

"Oh, that's normal for your first teleport. Come on, you should try and stay off your feet for at least a day. Veon and Audrey are at the Poseidon cabin. We can join them and play some videogames."

"You mean you and Veon will play while Audrey and I watch or fall asleep?"

"Yeah, fun, right?" I laughed and followed her off all the same. I looked around after we were a good distance away and saw Piper sitting next to and talking to Jason.

"You get him, girl," I muttered. I saw the other members of the Aphrodite cabin watching (trying to pretend that they weren't), exchanging bets to see if they'd kiss. They really shouldn't be gambling on Piper like that, but in the end, all they want is her happiness, so I guess it was okay for now. It wasn't like they were going to try and break anybody up now that Piper freed them from Drew.

I looked around at the other kids around the camp. A couple of Demeter girls were playing tricks on two of the Apollo guys - making grass grow around their ankles as they shot baskets. Over at the camp store, the Hermes kids were putting up a sign that read:  **FLYING SHOES, SLIGHTLY USED, 50% OFF TODAY!**  Ares kids were lining their cabin with fresh barbed wire, and the Hypnos cabin was snoring away. This camp was full of so many people with different talents, different characteristics and habits. Everyone here was an odd bunch, and it felt comforting. All these people were family one way or another, and this was going to be a nice home.

"Hey, wait. That teleport wasn't just  _my_  first, and the others aren't getting dizzy, are they?" I realized. "And electronics attracted monsters, don't they? That's why Piper didn't get a lot of time to video chat with her dad." Zy laughed and put an arm around my shoulders.

"I think Piper knew what was happening, and they both accepted it, Em, so let them be happy and enjoy their peace. Plus, as Zyanya I can electronic-proof our cabin, so we can play  _all_  day." I laughed as she led me to the Poseidon cabin. When we walked inside, though Audrey and Veon were already on their way out.

"Hey, Audrey says Leo's got something to show the rest of us in the woods," Veon said.

"We're going to show the Hephaestus kids the place," Audrey said. "Leo has an idea for something."

"Where are we even going? Audrey refuses to tell me what it is. It's not like I'm gonna go spoiling the surprise or anything."

"Well it's not gonna be as interesting to you as it's going to be to the Hephaestus kids. Come on, Em. Leo's gonna take the guys out and lead them there, and I don't know about you, but I don't remember the way."

"Are we sure Leo does?" I asked.

"It's Leo. And if we get lost, Zy's coming with us for that." We left and headed for the Hephaestus cabin, joining with Jason and Piper as well as Leo led us and his cabin members through the woods and to Bunker 9.

"Here we go," He said as we stood in front of the limestone cliff. He will his hand to catch fire and set it against the door.

"Leo! You're a fire user!" Nyssa cried.

"Yeah, thanks. I know." One of Leo's siblings (Jake Mason, I believe?) who was on crutches, after getting out of a full body cast, looked at Leo in awe.

"Holy Hephaestus. That means…it's so rare that…" The massive door swung open and everyone was rendered speechless, Leo's fire now insignificant, and even Piper and Jason looked stunned. Only Chiron, who was here so that the Bunker wasn't some kind of illegal project, didn't look too surprised. The centaur knit his eyebrows and stroked his beard, as if the group was about to walk through a minefield. I stepped forward and smiled, sweeping my hand out for them to go ahead.

"Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Bunker 9," I said. The others still stared in shock until Zy walked forward.

"Well, come on, people. You're going to love this."

The group went in silently, as though any sound may cause this place to fall apart. Everything was as it'd been left - the giant machines, worktables, old maps and schematics. The only difference was that Festus's head was sitting on the central table, still battered and scorched from his crash in Omaha.

"I'm sorry, Festus. But I won't forget you," Leo said, stroking the dragon's forehead.

"Can we get him back online?" I asked.

"I'm sure we can work something out if we tried," Zy said.

"Either way, the head is going to be reused. Festus will be going with us," Leo declared.

"What do you mean?" Piper asked.

"Guys, look at this!" Nyssa called before he could answer. She was standing at one of the worktables, flipping through a sketchbook - diagrams for hundreds of different machines and weapons. "I've never seen anything like these. There are more amazing ideas here than in Daedalus's workshop. It would take a century just to prototype them all."

"Who built this place, and why?" Jake Mason asked.

"This is a wartime command center," Zy said. "This camp has been attacked more than once. That map over there that says 1864? I think that's from the last Civil War if, I remember correctly." All the campers looked around, apparently having never heard of this before.

"Like the American Civil War 150 years ago?" Veon asked.

"Yes and no. There were two conflicts - mortal and demigod - that mirrored each other as they usually do in Western history. Look at any civil war or revolution from the fall of Rome onward, and it marks a time when demigods also fought one another."

"But  _that_  Civil War was particularly horrible," Chiron continued. "For American mortals, it is still their bloodiest conflict of all time - worse than their casualties in the two World Wars combined. For demigods, it was equally devastating. Even back then, this valley was Camp Half-Blood. There was a horrible battle in these woods, lasting for days, with terrible losses on both sides."

"Both sides," Leo repeated. "So you mean the camp split apart?"

"No, he means two different groups," Jason spoke up. "Camp Half-Blood was one side in the war."

"Who was the other?" Audrey asked. Chiron glanced up at the tattered Bunker 9 banner, as if remembering the day it was raised.

"The answer is dangerous. It is something I swore upon the River Styx never to speak of. After the American Civil War, the gods were so horrified by the toll it took on their children that they swore it would never happen again. The two groups were separated, and the gods, bending all their will, wove the Mist as tightly as they could to make sure the enemies never remembered each other, never met on their quests, so that bloodshed could be avoided. This map is from the final dark days of 1864, the last time the two groups fought. We've had several close calls since then. The 1960's were particularly dicey, but we've managed to avoid another civil war - at least so far. This bunker was the command center for the Hephaestus cabin. In the last century, it had reopened a few times, usually as a hiding place in great times of unrest, but coming here is dangerous. It stirs old memories, awakens old feuds. Even when the Titans threatened last year, I did not think it worth the risk to use this place."

"Hey, this place found  _me_ ," Leo said, a hint of guilt washing over him. "It was meant to happen, it's a good thing."

"I hope you're right."

"I am!" Leo pulled out his old drawing and spread it on the table for everyone to see. "There. Aeolus returned that to me. I drew it when I was five. That's my destiny."

"Leo, it's a crayon drawing of a boat," Nyssa said frowning.

"Look." He pointed at the largest schematic on the bulletin board - the blueprint showing a Greek trireme. Slowly, his cabin mate's eyes widened as they realized the similarities between the two images. The number of masts and oars, even the decorations on the shields and the sails were exactly the same as on Leo's drawing.

"That's…impossible. That blueprint has to be a century old at least."

" _Prophecy - Unclear - Flight_ ," Jake Mason read from the notes on the blueprint. "It's a diagram for a flying ship. Look, that's the landing gear. And weaponry - Holy Hephaestus, rotating ballista, mounted crossbows, Celestial bronze plating. That thing would be one spankin' hot war machine. Was it ever made?"

"Not yet," Leo said. "Look at the masthead." There was no doubt - the figure at the front of the ship was the head of a dragon, a very particular dragon.

"Festus," Piper said. Everyone turned and looked at the dragon's head sitting on the table.

"He's meant to be our masthead. Our good luck charm, our eyes at sea. I'm supposed to build this ship. I'm gonna call it the Argo II. And guys, I need your help."

"The Argo II," Zy said. "After Jason's ship."

"Leo's right, that's just what we need for our journey," Jason said.

"What journey?" Nyssa asked. "You just go back!"

"We've got to confront Porphyrion," Piper said. "He said he would destroy the gods at their roots."

"Indeed," Zy said. "There's still much to piece together, but it can be said for certain that you, Jason, Piper, and Leo, are three of the seven of the great prophecy. Confront the giants in their homeland, where they are strongest. You must stop them before they can wake Gaea fully, before they destroy Mount Olympus."

"Um…you don't mean Manhattan, do you?" I asked.

"No. The original Mount Olympus. We're going to sail to Greece. All you need know right now is that Leo is going to need your help constructing the Argo II. It is perhaps the greatest project Cabin Nine has undertaken, even greater than the bronze dragon of Festus."

"It'll take a year at least," Nyssa said. "Do we have that much time?"

"You have six months at most. You should sail by the summer solstice, when the god's power is strongest. Besides, we evidently cannot trust the wind gods, and the summer winds are the least powerful and easiest to navigate. You dare not sail any later, or you may be too late to stop the giants. You must avoid ground travel, using only the air and sea, so this vehicle is perfect. Jason, being the son of a sky god, and Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon will be on your journey to help. My team shall also be assisting you, and we've got a water and a sky person too. This voyage is set. I'll help in any way I can, and that should help speed up the building process."

"Well, one thing's for sure," Jake Mason said, turning to Leo. " _You_  are now senior counselor. This is the biggest honor the cabin has ever had. Anyone object?" No one did, all of Leo's cabin mates and siblings smiling at him. "It's official then. You're the man." Leo smiled, and I could sense his joy, but also fear of getting this right.

"We're all behind you, Leo," I said.

"Well, if you guys elect me leader, you must be even crazier than I am. So, let's build a spankin' hot war machine!"


	33. The End and Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More fluff, but it has to be put in as a kind of finale and clearing things up as to what's going to happen. The next chapter is more of the cliffhanger ending. Please review :)

First Person: Zytaveon

"Hera needed to make an exchange of leaders to bridge the gap between both Greeks and Romans after the war," Zyanya explained as me, her, Audrey and Emily sat in my cabin on four separate non-coffin beds, two on each side of the room. "It's not an easy task, and when you meet the Romans, you'll understand why. If you think this camp has it's crazy side, wait until I take you to the Roman camp. In any case, both Greeks and Romans have their advantages and disadvantages, but they're not much different than the Ares kids versus the Apollo kids. They're different, but in the end, they're demigods, right? In any case, Jason is one of the leaders of the Roman camp, and not all of his memories have been returned to him as of yet for his protection. He needs to build a deeper connection to this camp for the next few months needed before we set sail, that way, he'll be both a leader to this camp and a leader to his. Romans are stubborn, though, and they're not gonna take lightly to a giant war ship appearing on their doorstep with their missing leader on board and suddenly transformed into a Greek. Doesn't take a genius to figure that out.

"The war with the giants requires both Greeks and Romans to come together, but this is gonna be rough. Greeks and Romans are different, therefore any small differences are going to be treated like declarations of war over there. Just before the Argo II is finished, I plan to take you all over to the camp and try to find the other three of the seven and assist them on their quest, one of which is going to be your half-brother, Audrey, Percy Jackson, and he's not gonna remember anything about himself. Only that he's been running for the past six months, of course. He's perfectly capable of handling himself, even without his memories, but he's gonna be confused. Remember, when we get there, we cannot reveal we know anything of the Greeks or of who Percy is, at least until his memories return on their own. We need to act as though we don't know about both Greek  _and_  Roman, therefore your confusion will make sense.

"Chiron's summoning the council now so that Jason can discuss what he knows. Some things may be repeats of what I've told you here, but do not give any indication of foreknowledge. I've already revealed a lot more than I probably should be allowed, and the Fates are  _not_  gonna be happy. However, I assembled this team to work in the shadows, to be the ones that can go around the rules to assist these demigods in fulfilling this prophecy. Gaea's rise threatens me, Zyanya, and I must ensure that these heroes have assistance in their quest."

"So we're the cavalry, eh?" I asked. "I feel honored."

"We need to use these six months wisely, because they'll go faster than you realize. Build your powers, be ready for real combat. You have discovered many new powers with this last quest, and now you need to master them. I'll try and give you as much information as I can without going too far. Like I said, giving the answers makes the answers worthless. You must learn things on your own advance through the tasks to come by your own strength. There's a reason the gods aren't supposed to interfere in their children's lives. I trust you'll have no complains should I withhold information."

"If you do, that means you trust us to figure it out on our own, right?"

"Correct."

"Wait, aren't you going to the Underworld, Veon?" Emily asked.

"Oh, that's right."

"Go, you'll get good training there," Zyanya said. "I'll look after Audrey and Emily up here, and we'll visit you. You don't have to leave instantly, anyway, but I recommend going soon. Don't worry, we'll come and see you so often you'll be sick of us. Oh, it's time for the council meeting. Let's move. And remember, you're just as clueless as everyone else."

"But it's really hard to keep up with what we know and don't know," Emily said. "This is why lying doesn't work."

"Then don't speak unless you're sure it's appropriate to, and I'll handle the rest. Besides, I'd be more worried about lying once we get to the Roman camp. There, they take things  _very_  seriously. The leader, Jason's partner, even has dogs that can tell when you're lying. That's why I don't plan to reveal too much to you, and why Hera found taking Percy's memories before sending him over there was needed if he was to gain their trust. I'll handle the convincing once we're there with a little goddess magic, anyway. We need to find a way to join Percy on his quest, and that might require some sneaking out of the camp to follow them, not a good idea with the Roman strictness, or I'll use my goddess authority to authorize you guys to assist on another quest I will refrain from revealing. The Romans are strict, but their honorable, and they'll take a goddess's word for it."

"So, council meeting to go to?" Audrey asked.

I'm not sure what I was expecting out of the council meeting, but it was certainly interesting. For one thing, it was in the Big House rec room, around a Ping-Pong table, and one of the satyrs was serving nachos and sodas. Somebody had brought the living leopard head that was apparently called Seymour (a Final Fantasy X fan recognizing the name) in from the living room and hung him in the wall. Every once in a while, a counselor would toss him a thing called a "Snausage." Apparently this was a senior counselor meeting, so only the heads of each cabin were here, and I frantically tried to remember people's names.

Jason, Leo and Piper were there, now the leaders of their respective cabins, while Audrey and I were also the respective heads of ours by default, mostly because Nico di Angelo, the only other Hades member, and Percy Jackson, the only other Poseidon member, were absent. Otherwise, the two of us wouldn't be here, as we had less experience than them (I had apparently been told Nico had the big title "The Ghost King" and I was a little jealous. He was at least three years younger than me, for goodness sake). Emily was there under the pretenses that she had been on the quest with us and had a right to be here, and it wasn't like we were going to leave her out anyway. Zyanya was there just because she held high authority as whatever goddess she was, and I'm not sure if anyone else knew the details of what goddess she was, or they just knew she was powerful.

There was Clarisse, leader of the Area cabin, who had her boots on the table, though no one seemed to care. As a child of a war god, I was already liking her cool and tough attitude. Clovis from the Hypnos cabin was snoring in the corner while Butch from the Iris cabin was seeing how many pencils he could fit in Clovis's nostrils. Travis Stoll from the Hermes cabin (who I've been told is a serious troublemaker, along with his brother) was holding a lighter under a Ping-Pong ball, trying to see if it would burn, and Will Solace from the Apollo cabin was absently wrapping and unwrapping an Ace bandage around his wrist. Lou Ellen from the Hecate cabin was playing "got-your-nose" with Miranda Gardiner from the Demeter cabin, except that Lou Ellen really  _had_  magically disconnected Miranda's nose, and Miranda was frantically trying to get it back. Rachel Dare, the oracle woman, sat next to Chiron at the head of the table. Annabeth looked on edge, wearing armor over her camp clothes, with her knife at her side and her blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, as though she was prepared for a war to break out in here.

"This place is…a party," I muttered.

"Yep," Zyanya said. "It's what makes Greeks special. They're fun, expressive and all different, but they aren't afraid to show it. This place is so friendly, you know? They don't take stuff too seriously and the camp is meant to be a fun place where demigods can relax, embrace who they are."

"Gotta admit, I like it."

"Me too. Romans can sometimes be so stuck up and serious. It's good for combat and wars since they're so organized, quick thinking, serious and battle ready, but you can learn to enjoy it in a family-like place here too."

"Jason does seem like a natural leader with a lot of fighting skills. Wonder what's its gonna be like at his camp."

"You'll get used to it, and we won't be there long before the next quest. " She tensed and looked to the ceiling. "All right, all right. They Fates clearly don't want me opening my mouth anymore. Sometimes knowing more than you should can be so tiresome."

"Wouldn't want you to get in trouble."

"Please. The Fates are no better than Zeus, that is to say, I outrank  _them_  too. However, I won't try to stir up trouble when I don't need to, and they  _are_  only doing their jobs."

"Let's come to order," Chiron said. "Lou Ellen, please give Miranda her nose back. Travis, if you'd kindly extinguish the flaming Ping-Pong ball, and Butch, I think twenty pencils is really too many for any human nostril. Thank you. Now, as you can see, Jason, Piper, and Leo have returned successfully…more or less. Some of you have heard parts of their story, but I will let them fill you in." I sighed as our group explained the story again, jumping between each person here and there to continue when someone had been talking for a while or someone needed to add something important. It only took a few minutes, but with everyone's eyes on the person speaking, it could tend to feel a little nerve wracking when everyone's eyes settled on me, and I was always begging for someone else to pick up the torch when I got stuck with it for just one comment. The silence in the room was heavy, and for so many ADHD demigods to sit still and listen for that long, the story must've really been compelling.

"Hera - or Juno - appeared in my cabin just before this meeting," Jason said. "She said an exchange of leaders was necessary to bridge the gap. All of my memories haven't been returned to me, though Hera claims most will return with some time, but they're not all there because I need to become some kind of leader in this camp, a peacemaker between two great powers. She says the demigods in the prophecy, the seven, are divided between two places, and if they remain divided, we can't win against the giants, who are required to work with the gods in order to stop the giants. We sail to Greece to meet the giants, and there the gods will be convinced to join us. Also…she says failure will cause a lot of bloodshed, demigods will destroy one another, the giants will overrun Olympus, Gaea will wake, and the earth will destroyed everything that the gods have built over five millennia."

"That's why my team has been assembled to assist you," Zyanya spoke up. "I've gathered some of the most powerful demigods of the time that are not a part of the prophecy to join you, as Gaea's rise threatens the highest of the gods, even me."

"I'm not saying I trust Hera-"

"That's smart," Annabeth said.

"-but she isn't making this up about another group of demigods. That's where I came from."

"Romans," Clarisse said, tossing Seymour a Snausage. "You expect us to believe there's another camp with demigods, but they follow the Roman forms of the gods. And we've never even heard of them."

"The gods have kept the two groups separate because every time they see each other, they try to kill each other," Zy said simply. "Apparently, even after all this time, you can't stop fighting."

"I can respect that. Still, why haven't we ever run across each other on quests?"

"We've worked to bend the Mist to try and avoid such encounters, but of course, there are some instances where you meet, and though you may not remember much of the Romans, the Romans remember your existence and still hold a bit of a grudge even though it's been centuries. It's quite a tragedy when your groups do meet, and we do our best to wipe clean the memories of those involved. The rivalry goes all the way to the Trojan War. The Greeks invaded Troy and burned it to the ground, but the Trojan hero Aeneas escaped and eventually made his way to Italy where he founded the race that would someday become Rome. The Romans grew more and more powerful, worshiping the same gods, but under different names. I question why, even in modern times after all these years, you haven't found a way to resolve these differences. No one alive even participated in the conflicts, except maybe the occasional god here and there, but none of the current demigods should be obligated to fight. But then, I suppose this is currently the attempt to bring your two groups together. Not easy, if you've ever met the Roman gods."

"They're more warlike," Jason agreed. "More united. More about expansion, conquest, and discipline."

"Yuck," Travis put in. Several of the others looked equally uncomfortable, though Clarisse shrugged like it sounded okay to her, and I'll admit, I felt the same. They were different, and maybe a bit strict, but they could do what they wanted, and being that way wasn't necessarily bad.

"And the Romans hated the Greeks," Annabeth said, twirling her knife on the table. "They took revenge when they conquered the Greek isles, and made them part of the Roman Empire."

"Not exactly  _hated_  them," Jason said. "The Romans admitted Greek culture, and were a little jealous. In return, the Greeks thought the Romans were barbarians, but they respected their military power." That lined up with what Zy had been saying. Both sides had their ups and downs, the Romans tough, but the Greeks fun. "So during Romans times, demigods started to divide - either Greek or Roman."

"A very human like thing to do," Zyanya said, and she sounded like the very definition of human was to be foolish and do irrational things. I guess in the past, maybe, but we were changing…right? "In any case, it's been that way ever since, never changed."

"But where were the Romans during the Titan War?" Annabeth asked. "Didn't they want to help?"

"They did. While you and Percy were leading the battle to save Manhattan, who do you think conquered Mouth Othrys, the Titan's base in California?"

"Hold on," Travis said. "Didn't Mount Othrys just crumble when we beat Kronos?"

"Not that easy, kid."

"It didn't just fall; we destroyed their palace," Jason said. "I defeated the Titan Krios myself.

"The Bay Area…" Annabeth said in thought, the pieces falling together. "We demigods were always told to stay away from it because Mount Othrys was there, but that wasn't the only reason, was it? The Roman camp - it's got to be somewhere near San Francisco. I bet it was put there to keep watch on the Titan's territory. Where is it?"

"I cannot say," Chiron said. "Honestly, even  _I_  have never been trusted with that information. My counterpart, Lupa, is not exactly the sharing type. Jason's memory, too, has been burned away."

"The camp's heavily veiled with magic," Jason said. "And heavily guarded. We could search for years and never find it."

"I can help with that," Zy said. "The location of the Roman camp is admittedly well hidden, but it's not as though I don't know of it. We must build the Argo II, and first go there before Greece to have their assistance in fulfilling the prophecy and defeating the giants."

"Bad plan," Clarisse said. "If those Romans see a warship coming, they'll assume we're attacking."

"I've considered that, and plan to go there beforehand in order to ease their fears and have them stand down. However, knowing them, they'll assume I'm lying that you come in peace, imprison me, and I will undoubtedly have to…use force, which they will also not take kindly and will not help peace talks. That's why Hera took Jason's memories. If he doesn't have the Roman tendencies he'd normally have, that will help in a clean slate between the camps. If peace talks are happening between two sides that absolutely hate each other and can't ever come to a compromise, the best solution is to erase their memories. They talk peace without bias from their background and become friends, so that even when they do remember, the compromise and friendships have already been made. Or at least, that's what Doctor Who has taught me. The seven of the prophecy are some Greek, some Roman, and we have to get the Greeks and Romans together if we are to win this war that Gaea has started."

"The Great Prophecy - what's that last line?" Annabeth asked.

" _And foes bear arms at the Doors of Death._ "

"The Doors of Death have been opened," I said. "That's why people and monsters are coming back from the dead, like Medea and Midas. No doubt there's going to be more."

"Maybe the foes are Greeks and Romans," Annabeth suggested. "The two unite, find the doors and close them."

"Or it could mean they fight each other at the Doors of Death," Clarisse pointed out. "It doesn't say that we'll cooperate."

"Or it couldn't be Greeks and Romans, but demigods versus the monsters trying to pass through the doors," Audrey said. "I mean, what are the odds that closing the doors requires fighting the monster's Gaea's trying to send through them? Greeks and Romans coming together to fight the enemies coming through while closing the doors, because I don't think Gaea or the guys trying to come back are just gonna stand there and let us."

"I'm going," Annabeth said.

"I was hoping you'd offer," Jason said. "You of all people - we'll need you."

"Indeed," Zy said.

"Wait," Leo interrupted. "I mean, that's cool with me and all, but why Annabeth of all people?"

"Jason's presence here is an exchange of leaders," Zy explained. "A way for the two camps to learn of each other's existence. An exchange goes both ways. When Jason arrived here, his memory was wiped, he had no idea who he was, where he came from, or where he belonged. Fortunately, Camp Half-Blood is a kind place, taking in demigods of all kinds and giving them a home. Jason understands that this place is not his enemy. The Romans, however, their camp is not so friendly. You prove your worth quickly, or you don't survive. They may not be so nice to him, and if they learn where he comes from, he's in serious trouble."

"Him?" Leo asked. "Who are you talking about?"

"My boyfriend," Annabeth said grimly. "His disappeared around the same time Jason appeared. If Jason came to Camp Half-Blood-"

"Exactly," Jason agreed. "Percy Jackson is at the other camp, and he probably doesn't even remember who he is."

"His memory erasure will help in keeping him alive against the Romans," Zyanya said. "He's strong, and he shall be fine until he finds the camp, you have my word. We build the Argo II and prepare to go there, Jason, Leo, Piper and my team. Just before the Argo II is finished, I will go with my team to the Roman camp to see if we can find Percy and assist him in gaining the Roman's trust, and I have no doubt that the giants and Gaea aren't just going to stand by and allow us to find the Romans of the seven. There is no doubt going to be a threat, and Percy will be sent on a quest to prove his worth. My team's job is to assist the seven of the prophecy, and that includes him, so we will be by his side, along with trying to get the Romans to stand down upon your arrival in the Argo II. Is that clear?"

"Why can't we go and find Percy now?" Annabeth asked.

"He needs to find the Roman camp, and we need time to build the Argo II. I assure you, he will be fine until then. We shall go and see him before he gets to the Roman camp, or  _when_  he does, so that he isn't killed on the spot. And no, you cannot come, Annabeth. It is required that you arrive on the Argo II when it is finished and no sooner. My team has been specifically built to handle this situation, and this is how it must be. You have a problem? Take it up with the Fates, because I am not going to argue this with you. Anyone else?" No one protested further, and the plan seemed pretty straightforward. "Then it's settled. Dismissed."


	34. Deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter of this part of the series (whoo! Completed it within a month even with school!). I plan to continue it in another story, following the books along with my own storyline (still don't own the original books, all rights belong to Rick Riordan). Thanks to the few readers who've read this and I hope you enjoyed :)

Third Person: Zyanya

Zyanya walked out of the Hades cabin long after night had fallen upon Camp Half-Blood. The girl within her had long since fallen asleep, even if she knew what Zyanya was doing with her body anyway. She voluntarily didn't wish to partake in this night, and Zyanya couldn't blame her. It was only expected of a woman so kind hearted. The harpies weren't a problem for her, but she went far into the forest and far away from any other life forms just in case, because what was happening tonight was not to be witnessed by anyone else.

She stopped deep in the forest, deciding this was a good spot. She held up her finger, and a blowtorch-like fire appeared at the tip like a candle, except the flame was lime green. Holding it out in front of her, it sparked and the space in front of her lit like a candle, though there was nothing in front of her that should've been set ablaze. She moved her hand slowly in a circle, a ring of flame following her finger and glowing with green fire. Once she'd carved a full circle, her finger snuffed out, and a large circumference of green flame about five feet tall floating in front of her. Waving her hand, the space in the center of the circle shimmered before turning into a black screen.

"Hades," Zyanya said in a demanding tone. The blackness shimmered once more to reveal the god's face, though he looked very unhappy. "It is confirmed. He is the one we need."

"Why tell me this? I could not stop you if you were to use him without consulting me."

"I require something of you, and I have a…bargain, of sorts." She pulled out a black ring made of Stygian iron, a silver skull carved into it. "Agree, and I will grant you his mother back." The god stiffened.

"How did you get that?"

"I know what happens in my realm, dear, I know the truth. I also know how Zeus was not the one to kill his mother and attempt to kill him. Hardly. I just needed to harden his soul from a young age, if he was to be my candidate. So I killed him and his mother, and allowed you to capture her soul within this ring, even if I did hide it from your grasp. You sent your boy to live his life, and now he has. His soul has been crafted into a worthy candidate, and now I need your assistance."

"And if I don't? Will you destroy her soul permanently?"

"Oh no. That would be a mercy, if anything, as the true destruction of one's soul erases all memory of their existence. You would not be able to mourn her, miss her, and that is no punishment. But I do not intend to punish you, or hold you at gun point if you decide to refuse. I merely wish to offer you pay for your services if you agree, and well…I didn't think you'd appreciate flowers or chocolates, so I decided this killed two birds with one stone. He grew up differently, without both his parents, not uncommon for a demigod, but it was insurance. His heart has been hardened, but also strengthened into what I need. And, if he manages to make it through the trials, he can come home to meet his mother. It's a win, win situation."

"Only if he survives."

"But he will. I  _want_  him to; we all do. If you agree to the terms, he gets his mother back, and he has a better chance of surviving the trials."

"I do not wish to inflict this pain upon one of my few children, and one of my last as well."

"Well, you know what happens if he fails. It won't matter anymore after that. It's all or nothing, one way or another. Why not make the "all" a bit more rewarding, because the "nothing" can't get any worse no matter what you do."

"I promised Zoraya I would protect him from such horrors. I wish for my children to be happy. They so rarely are."

"A quick death? Is that what you wish of him? At least my bargain pushes him to the  _chance_  of survival. Consider his failure versus what I'm asking, Hades. Understand that I wish for his survival and happiness as well, not to mention the survival of  _the rest of our realms_!" She sighed. "Hades, I don't ask much, but you said so yourself that if even if you disagree, I will move along without you either way." The King of the Underworld looked down hesitantly, considering the options, but Zyanya could tell that she'd won.

"What are your terms?" He finally asked. She smiled at her victory, though she hadn't doubted herself for a moment. She explained her plan, and Hades's simple role, though it may not be simple for a god like him. Zyanya could not claim to fully understand the way of emotions, but she knew them well enough to know how to use them to her advantage, and how they could sometimes be pesky and get in the way of her goals. But she knew Hades would do what she asked, even if he knew what it meant for his son. If her host was awake, Zyanya would be wracked with the guilt of a human for doing what she was, but right now, she didn't care. She would do what it takes to get what she wanted, no matter who got in the way, and no matter who suffered. And now Zytaveon was the one she needed to suffer.

"So," She said, holding up Zoraya's ring. "Do we have a deal?"


End file.
